They were dancing for joy to the tune of the National Youth Band at Taci Village, Noco, Rewa yesterday.

The villagers had a good reason to celebrate.

They had just seen the official handover of a $10,000 poultry farm from the Chinese Ambassador to Fiji, Zhang Ping, to the Minister for Youth and Sport, Laisenia Tuitubou, on their behalf.

Mr Ping later was handed the first dozen of eggs.

Varani Lutu, the turaga ni koro (village headman) said: “We are happy and dancing for joy today because this is the first income-generating project for the village.

“We want to express our deepest appreciation to the Chinese Government for its help and Mr Tuitubou for his role in helping to secure the funding.

“We heard from Ambassador Ping this project was made possible through the collaborative effort between the Chinese Embassy, the ministry and Taci villagers.”

Kolinio Nokelevu, the chairman of Taci Village Development Committee, said this was the first significant project in a three-year development plan.

He said last year he had advised the youths to apply for assistance to start a business project to generate income for the villagers.

He said the source of livelihood for them was limited to mana (mud crabs), kuka (species of mud crabs) and moci (tiny prawns).

This was a major boost for the villagers, he added.

The village has a population of 148, other Taci villagers live in urban areas.

Mr Nokelevu is an accounts officer at the Judicial Department in Suva.

Mr Ping said the poultry farm was the first Chinese Embassy aid community project.

“We came up with an idea of doing small projects with the limited budget that the embassy has. I am pleased that this idea has come to fruition,” he said.

“This poultry farm is from from being modern and it is not large either.

“However, it is the starting point to a big hope for better life and economic prosperity in the future.

“Once the farm goes into operation in full capacity, it will generate more than $1000 of income every month.

“If we can use part of the income to reinvest, we will see further expansion of production of poultry products and more income will be generated.

“With the increased income, we will be able to improve the livelihood of every household.

“This is a typical way of getting rid of poverty and embarking on the road of prosperity by many rural families in China.

“However, in many instances, the road to prosperity is not as simple as investing money in the project and the revenue will come automatically.

“It requires some scientific knowledge and management skills to keep the business going and growing.

“In the case of chicken farming, you have to know how to take care of them, how to sell the products to the market and how to manage the profit for reinvestment.

“These are the exact kind of things that our young friends should learn in terms of capacity building and it is exactly what this pilot project is about.”

He said the project was aimed to help the rural communities to find out a suitable and effective way of achieving economic sustainability and development.

“It carries the goodwill and profound friendship of Chinese people towards the Fijian people.

“It embodies the sincere desire of our embassy staff to see a faster and better development of the rural areas.

“I do hope that through your hard work and dedication, the project will achieve great success.

“Your success will be a great encouragement for us to do more projects of similar kind in the future so as to let more communities and villages benefit.”

He thanked Mr Tuitubou and his ministry for their great support.

He said the idea of sponsoring this project was initiated when he had conversation with Mr Tuitubou.