WOMEN from villages in Sigatoka have expressed their interest in cultivating their own coffee plantations to help them earn better income from it.
Most of the women from the villages in Sigatoka Valley and other parts of Nadroga work with Bula Coffee in terms of harvesting the coffee beans from the trees that grow wild in the bushes and selling them to the company.
Bula Coffee manager Luke Fryett said he received requests from the women and others who were interested to cultivate coffee for plants.
Mr Fryett said they had already received equipment from the European Union to build a nursery where they could plant the finest coffee beans found in Fiji and supply them to those who were interested.
The company’s strategic plan shows the direction it wants to take in order to develop the coffee industry in Fiji.
The strategic plan says Bula Coffee has been working with the locals since 2011 when coffee was first found growing wild in the bush and they have built the Fijian coffee industry from the ground up; from working directly with villages, supporting them to become organically certified, processing the cherry to a bean that’s ready to be roasted, teaching locals the fine art of roasting coffee to extract the best flavour, to dealing with international distributors and taking Bula Coffee to the world.
According to the strategic plan, Bula Coffee has spent the past five years investing heavily in the industry, working in the background to test the market, build genuine authentic relationships with the villagers, develop the brand and secure markets. We have attained organic status for some of our villages and increased its production from very humble beginnings.
And now what began with a few sacks of coffee, has grown to truck loads with the company being able to purchase a processing plant with the capability of processing one tonne of cherries per hour.
Past records provided by the company show that in 2011 Bula Coffee bought 200kgs of beans and its 2020 forecast shows the company expects to purchase 300 tonnes of coffee beans, which is 500 per cent growth from 2016.
Mr Fryett said there was some major damage to coffee plants during Tropical Cyclone Winston and Cyclone Zena last year.
He said during TC Winston the plants were blown over but they were later pushed back upright and were fine until Cyclone Zena struck Fiji.
“It was unfortunate that the trees were flowering when Zena hit,” he said.
He said all the fruits swelled in the rain and fell, leading to a major loss by the company.
“The factory became an evacuation centre during the natural disasters last year and we had about 60 to 70 people taking shelter here,” he said.
Mr Fryett said through a church in New Zealand they received about $80,000 and then they bought relief supplies and seeds for the villages to help them start off.
“We have developed a major relationship over the years with the villagers and I would like to thank them because without them the business would not have been able to reach where it is today,” he said.
Bula Coffee was part of the Fine Foods expo in Australia last week and received a lot of positive response from visitors to the expo.
