"At this time while I'm home, I've started a little backyard farming with my family helping out. We have to think of our food security because it is something many families go through," Sesarina Naliku, Tavua .
Sesarina Naliku of Tavua with her children on her farm.
Naliku added that, it's been more than two weeks, where she has not been to the market to sell/
“I haven't been to the market to sell. I have a juice stall there, but because of the restrictions in place, I cannot get there to sell juice.”.
During femLINKpacific’s Rural Women Leaders Western Divisional Consultation in March, 35 women leaders gathered to share their stories about the impact of two tropical cyclones and the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives.
Food security, health and economic security were at the top of their human security priorities.
The issue of food security dominated their conversation because whether there was enough food determined their personal and health security.
Majority of these women leaders are farmers and market vendors.
Naliku strongly recommended that women market vendors are given seedlings.
“If (women) market vendors can be assisted with seedlings, as most of us already have land to plant.”
Naliku and other women vendors like her proposed that government will consider increasing the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget allocation for seedlings, farming tools, provide technical training and resources for diversified agriculture opportunities for women leaders and their communities.
Miliakere Salaivalu - Community Health Worker, Nadelei Village, Tavua - also at the market selling duruka, cassava and lemon and where sales are not good. Mili’s husband does the farming, while she brings and sells the produce at the market.