Government keeps up water carting

Kishore Verma, a farmer of Korovuto in Nadi, says he is praying that the recent rain will be enough to sustain his farm and enable it to recover.

“There was no water for our animals, livestock and our farms. But now the rivers are all filled up just within the three to four days we’ve been having rain here in the West,” he said.

The 54-year-old said he had lost around 70 tonnes of cane during the prolonged dry spell in the Western Division.

“I have applied manure to my sugar cane farm and with the help of the rain maybe I can recover the loss I had in both my sugar cane and vegetable farms,” he said.

Mr Verma said he was happy now because their borehole, which had recently dried up, is running again and his water tank has been refilled with enough water for his household needs.

Meanwhile divisional planning officer western Sitiveni Tavaga said the Commissioner Western’s Office will continue water-carting to affected areas in the Western Division.

“Our teams are still on the ground assessing the situation and we will continue to cart water to affected areas,” he said.

Mr Tavaga said $685,330 alone had been spent on the operation with a total of 17 million litres of water being carted out to affected areas from August to date.

“We are again urging members of the public to use water wisely because we are trying to cater for as many people as we can,” he said.

Edited by Manasa Kalouniviti

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