By Len Garae
The thousands of people who converged on Laminu Stadium on Tanna Island for the recent National Week of Agriculture were living proof that Vanuatu is ready to produce, value-add and market its agricultural products.
Its people bought out all live animals, including 220 bullocks, in the first couple of days of the week-long show earlier this month.
Traditionally Tanna is well known for planting more yams than any island in Vanuatu, yet during the show, yams from all provinces were sold out as attendees went from stall to stall.
The Department of Livestock raised well over Vt1 million (US$8900) through the auction of 220 head of cattle to small farmers who bought them to feed and clean within their coconut plantations.
One farmer complained, “I need to buy more than one animal for use in my family’s custom ceremony to mark the day of my mother’s passing here on Tanna. We need meat at this time of the year for our custom ceremonies.
“We [attendees] have bought out all the live pigs and chickens and 220 bullocks and even that is not enough! We need protein and the Department of Fisheries ordered two tons of tuna down, and even that was bought out! We need more live cattle, and the Government must send us more.”
Tanna is unique among the 83 inhabited islands in the archipelago with a population known to be business minded. Take the majority of the public transport owners and drivers in Port Vila and vendors of farm produce at Port Vila Market House; the majority are Tannese.
Most of the rural plantation employees on Efate Island are from Tanna Island. Their determination to hold on to a job and work hard to please their employer is setting an example for ni Vanuatu workers from other islands too.
“This explains why Vanuatu is leading as the most popular sender of seasonal workers to New Zealand and Australia. In fact, Vanuatu is the top sending country with the highest number of workers in both countries”, said a source from the Department of Labour.
In order to understand ‘man Tanna’ and ‘woman Tanna’ as they are referred to in Bislama, one has to go to Tanna to shop in Lenakel, (also known as Blackman Town) eat in their restaurants and sleep in their hotels and bungalows and guest houses.
During my visit, I tried to enter Western Union on the street of Blackman Town. A long list of people snaked out of the door and spilled into the street. The security advised me to join the queue, but I could not wait and left. I returned the next day and entered only to be told to join a winding line of customers inside.
“Are you here to withdraw or deposit?” the cashier asked.
I mentioned the former and all of us who went to withdraw were told to “wait”. ‘Man Tanna’ and ‘woman Tanna’ had withdrawn all the cash and we had to wait for more money from Port Vila. I returned in the afternoon and was served.
In the evening, I bought supper at one of the roadside cooked food markets which serve hot food until well after 8pm. I went to one food stall and bought my supper then waited for my change. The woman took her purse from under the table and unzipped it. It opened like a book with approximately Vt50,000 notes in there! I have lived in Port Vila most of my adult life and have never seen a purse that rich at Port Vila market.
The population of Tanna is big compared to other islands, and they all strive to earn a living by owning a business. No expatriates are allowed to operate a business in Blackman Town. An Australian made history by opening a vehicle repair shop on the side of the road between the airport and the town.
I asked a local what happened to the investor, and he smiled and replied, “A Tannese has bought out the company from the Australian and he packed up and left.”
During the National Week of Agriculture, power supplier UNELCO experienced power cuts every night. “The Manager advised us that he had to cut power supply to other villages in order to reconnect to the Stadium. Even he was surprised that ‘man Tanna’ is now using more electrical appliances which means the company has to plan ahead to improve on its services,” a member of the Show Committee said.
I also had the privilege to travel to an area of Tanna called the ‘Middle Bush’ which is also known as the island’s traditional ‘food bowl.’
There were huge crowds in two different villages celebrating their traditional custom ceremonies during my visit. I asked if they were also part of the Vanuatu Week of Agriculture, and a villager replied, “No, VWA is for Blackman Town. The celebrations here are annual for our young boys to become men”.
There you are, the power of Tanna is its people.
