a whisper in Fiji
p. 57 · Read in the full issue
Coffee boom but a whisper in Fiji
If there is any rub-off for Fiji in the world coffee boom, it won’t be the farmers who will benefit. Rather it will be the Department of Agriculture, which is building up a store of beans at its experimental station at Naduruloulou, a few miles from Nausori.
About four years ago, when coffee prices were one-sixth or one-se venth of the current rate, farmers from a number of nearby areas sent their beans to Naduruloulou for drying and processing. The beans were blended and sold to a local packer for marketing. Farmers pull ed out of coffee-growing as costs rose and the processing machines lay idle. Even the current high prices have not enticed them back.
So the department takes charge of any beans which become available from the experimental station and will probably pay any profits into consolidated revenue.