Farmer Josaia Wanisi knows just how rewarding when one invests in farming.

After 19 years of farming yaqona, the man from Moala, Lau, has built himself a home, and runs a small grocery shop back at the village. During that period, Mr Wanisi said he had harvested at least 20,000 yaqona plants.

“I encourage the youths out there, there’s life in the village especially farming. Farming doesn’t require a degree or good education, it only requires commitments and hard works,” he said.

Mr Wanisi, representing farmers of the Lau Group, is taking part in a three-day workshop.

He is calling on unemployed youths, who are roaming our streets, to get into farming because it is far better than being aimless.

“I highly recommend youths and men who don’t have a stable job to go back to the village and use the land because in just two to three years you will harvest again with good income, especially now that yaqona is being sold at more than $80 a kilogram,” he said.

“It requires a little more sacrifice.”

The 38-year-old farmer said he started farming in 1998 when he was 19 years old.

“There was no life for me in the city and now after 19 years of farming, I  have built a big house, and I run a grocery shop in the village.”

Edited by: Naisa Koroi