Fresh produce exporter Salend Kumar has just begun enjoying the fruits of his hard labour post-pandemic when yet another disaster hit the Western Division.
The prolonged dry weather in the past couple of months denied the Bilalevu, Sigatoka man the chance of sending fresh local produce to New Zealand.
Established in 2016, Salend’s Export was birthed out of the determination of the 49-year-old former truck driver to set up an export business after a friend convinced him. He export green vegetables, ginger and kava to a buyer in New Zealand.
Being the managing director of the company requires him to maintain a good business relationship particularly ensuring he continues to export the top-rated quality local produce abroad.
The past few months has been an uphill battle for the Sigatoka Valley exporter as he travels across major cities and towns in Viti Levu to purchase quality produce to send to NZ.
“To export, we need quality products and this was not the case in the dry season experienced in the west,” Mr Kumar shared from his Sigatoka home.
“We had to look around other farms and we were finding difficulties in sourcing our produce and we moved around local towns to be able to get the best produce to export. “The best quality vegetables the valley is always known for was nowhere to be found when the dry weather hit the west for a couple of months.”
But COVID-19 had its own fair of struggle for the local exporter because like other local businesses, his was on the verge of collapse when the high freight costs took its toll on the business.
He explained how he went out of his way and picked up the bits and pieces to ensure the business survived the pandemic and weathered the global hike in prices.
His determination and experience in the export fraternity in the past six years allowed him to overcome all odds and fight tooth and nail to survive.
“COVID-19 nearly shut down our business, the high freight costs really went up like double or triple before COVID and this was really expensive for us.
“The cost was really high among other things and we have been recovering slowly when borders reopened in December last year and then the prolonged dry weather in the past couple of months hit us again.
“I’m glad that the business continues as normal and that the pandemic and the extreme weather patterns taught us lessons on how we can sustain the business.”
Mr Kumar had only a car and a seven-seater vehicle when he began this investment in which he managed take 200kg to 300kg worth of produce to the Nadi International Airport for airfreight.
After five months, he managed to purchase a bigger lorry to assist in the transportation of produce to the Nadi International Airport.
At home in Bilalevu, his wife and sons assist in the daily running of the business which has grown exponentially over the years.
Mr Kumar explained the challenges faced in the past couple of years have allowed him to explore ways of improving the trade to ensure it is not affected again in the near future.
He added that the downpour in the past week had in some way helped in the flourishing of green vegetables and fresh produce.
