Since Febru­ary this year Preetika Naidu has been working within Siji Sugar Corpo­ration’s Field Ex­tension Services Department. She is currently sta­tioned at Tavua’s Drumasi sector as a Field Assis­tant.

In a male-dominated work environ­ment and industry, Ms Naidu seems unphased and takes it all in her stride.

She grew up on a sugar cane farm in Tagitagi in Tavua.

“I have always loved the outdoors and from a little girl, I could never see myself doing anything else apart from farming”, Ms Naidu said.

Youngest of three children, Ms Naidu lives with her mum in Ba whilst her two older siblings live in Lautoka.

After her secondary education, she pursued a Bachelor of Science in Ag­riculture at the Fiji National Univer­sity.

Ms Naidu said: “At high school, I re­ally started to build a keen interest in agriculture!”

So it was only natural that she pro­gressed towards this goal at tertiary level. And today, she is one of the pio­neering women who work in the field agricultural section of the sugar in­dustry. In her current role, she carries out a lot of administrative tasks for the Drumasi sector office.

Additionally, she offers a lot of sup­port to the Field Co-ordinator and Team Leader Drumasi Sector.

“I provide sector support for up to thirty growers a week, and now that the crushing season nears, the grower queries are increasing”, Ms Naidu said.

Grower queries can range from weedicide advice, farm production, requests for assistance or invoices and payments. In short, customer ser­vice for growers on a daily basis.

Although she says she is still learn­ing a lot, she is adapting well. Ms Naidu intends to stay in the industry as long as she can.

Source: Fiji Sugar Corporation