Nabilah S
Currently, Kabukabu is involved in a community project she has always wanted to participate in.
For the past 20 years, access to clean water has been a major challenge for her community. Using the income from mushroom farming, she purchased pipelines and materials to construct a dam, and now clean water is available at the roadside—a significant improvement for the area.
The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted life for many, but it didn’t diminish Kabukabu’s enthusiasm for growing mushrooms.
Even during the pandemic, the Juncao center continued delivering mushroom bags to farmers. Kabukabu also rallied other women who had lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic to join the Juncao project.
By the end of 2023, Kabukabu had become the chairwoman of the Fiji Mushroom Farmers Association, uniting mushroom growers nationwide to help fully explore the mushroom market.
She regularly organizes members to promote Juncao technology across various districts, educating communities on the nutritional and medicinal value of mushrooms and advocating for a healthier diet.
Today, the association has many loyal customers, including supermarkets, universities, and international organizations in Fiji, with orders ranging from 15 to 20 Fijian dollars per kilogram.
PROMOTING JUNCAO TECHNOLOGY
In addition to mushroom farming, Kabukabu’s women’s group also cultivates giant Juncao grass to feed cows.
The giant Juncao grass grows quickly, yields high, and is rich in crude protein, reducing feed costs and addressing feed shortages during the dry season, according to Lin Xingsheng, the team leader of the China-Fiji Juncao Technology Demonstration Center.
Lin added that Juncao technology also helps prevent riparian landslides, control soil erosion, and improve coastal saline-alkali land in Fiji.
Kabukabu praised Juncao technology, saying, “The women’s group is enthusiastic about continuing with Juncao because it’s low-cost, offers quick returns, high profits, high eco-efficiency, and is widely adaptable.”
Since 2014, the China-Fiji Juncao project has benefited Fiji by increasing local productivity, providing a diverse range of quality foods, ensuring food security, creating jobs, empowering women and youth, and offering solutions to climate change and sustainable development for island nations.
“My group members and I are witnesses to and beneficiaries of Juncao technology,” Kabukabu said.
