Woman reaps first harvest under project

 A RICE farmer in Central has successfully yielded her first harvest under a trial farm project with Trukai Industries Ltd.

Eileen Iambul (pictured) of Magabaira, Kairuku district, began her rice field last year after she offered a portion of her land to Trukai to trial the farming of 12 varieties of local and Trukai rice under the Amadi-Baga pilot project.

Last Friday, Trukai began the first harvest of four hectares of the rice field which was expected to produce 12 tonnes of rice valued at K8000.

Trukai’s rice development officer Humphrey Saese said Iambul’s commitment to the project showed that there were opportunities for people to make use of their resources and earn an income.

“The biggest resource that people in the country have is their labour and their land and that’s the thinking that we (Trukai) promote,” he said.

“Eileen and her family have two hundred hectares of land and they have their own family living next to that land. “So it demonstrates that people can move from a backyard that has a potential to yield to a move forward with an opportunity like this, from zero income to some level of income.”

Iambul said she was happy to participate in the project.

“The people of Magabaira were very interested when Trukai came into the village to do awareness,” she said. “And I am very happy that I had put my hand up to Trukai to participate in this project and to plant rice.

“You can now see the four hectares of rice growing and ready for harvesting.”