Villagers Fundraise to Fix Farm Road
“Instead of waiting for Government to come and upgrade the road we have poured cement in some places to make travelling easier and better in the sense that we save a lot of time.
Saturday 15 March 2025 | 13:05
Sovusovu community members and villagers of Bucalevu in Ra carrying out maintenance on their farm road. Photos: Timoci Nacola
Community members of Sovusovu near Bucalevu Village in Ra upgraded their farm road last week for easy access for their children to get to school and transport their goods to the market.
Bucalevu is one of six villages in the district of Nakuilava on the province of Ra. The other five villages are Toki, Draunaleka, Tobu, Savulotu and Dama.
Community leader Timoci Nacola said they were grateful to the previous government for the construction of the farm road.
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“The last Government had constructed the rural access road in 2018 and 2019; making it easier for us to transport our goods to the market,” Mr Nacola said.
“Our community is about five kilometres from the main road.
“Instead of waiting for Government to come and upgrade the road we have poured cement in some places to make travelling easier and better in the sense that we save a lot of time.
“The community members have been using this road to transport their goods and also get their children to school.”
There are 15 homes in Sovusovu while another 10 live by the roadside; there are also two cattle sheds located along the farm access road.
“There are a lot of economic activities in the area with the selling of dalo and yaqona,” he said.
According to Mr Nacola, a few of the yaqona farmers from their community have received awards in agriculture farming.
Instead of waiting for government to come and upgrade the road we have poured cement in some places to make travelling easier and better in the sense that we save a lot of time.
Money used in cementing the road was fundraised by the community.
“We fundraised to upgrade our road. We did a kava barrel night at Bucalevu and collected $1500 to pay for the truck and bags cement.
“The villagers then brought gravel from the river to mix with the cement then used it to level the uneven spots.”
Mr Nacola acknowledged those who had contributed and assisted in the maintenance of the farm road.
“We have been asking for a better road through the bose ni tikina (district meeting) but it has been falling on deaf ears,” he said.
“The turaga ni koro (village headman) has been saying that the government will carry out maintenance work and build a new road.
“We had been waiting for a long time, then a few of us came together and planned to fix our road with the ideas we had.
“With good roads, we can now expect better returns from our dalo and yaqona sales.”
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