Southeast Ambrym farmers selling at Marope

Now that schools throughout the country are holding prize-giving and graduation ceremonies to mark the end of the school year before closing down for the long summer holiday, farmers from Southeast Ambrym are in Port Vila selling livestock, root crops and fruits to assist them with children’s school fees next year.

One group of 11 farmers are at Marope Market at Bladiniaire where they have been selling their produce since Monday afternoon after arriving Sunday night aboard the trading vessel LC Freedom.

They arrived with 61 pigs of varying sizes and fowls, root crops and vegetables especially wild yams, kumala, taros and pumpkins, and fruits – mangos, oranges, ripe bananas, and coconuts, mats and brooms from coconut fronds. On Wednesday morning nearly all their fowls, root crops, vegetables and fruits had been sold out.

Group spokesperson Simon Morrison says from Monday to Tuesday morning they had not sold any pig and they were getting complaints from the public that their prices were too high. He said they relayed the complaints to the Department of Livestock people and they met with them and set new reduced prices for the animals and since then by Wednesday morning 20 pigs were gone. He says that the farmers anticipate earning over a million vatu from the sale.

“We usually earn our income mostly from coconut, but since the devastation by Tropical Cyclone Pam in 2015 we now have to find other ways to earn some money especially for our children’s school fees,” he added.

This group of farmers comes from Pamal, Taviak and Penabo villages of Southeast Ambrym.

On Thursday night a larger group of 70 farmers was due to arrive in Port Vila aboard the vessel LC Urata from Utas, Toak, Penabo, Maat, Moru, Betel, Sakuat, Sameu and Endu villages also of Southeast Ambrym. They will be organizing their items for sale on Friday morning and to start selling in the afternoon at Marope Market.

This group is mostly selling root crops especially wild yams and also fruits.