Natadola's Green Machine

By the side of the highway leading to the Natadola Marine Resort is Fiji's biggest nursery and one of the largest in the South Pacific. The Natadola Plant Nursery was established in late 2005 to provide flora for the landscaping of the entire Marine Resort development including the Vijay Singh Golf Course on the rolling hills of Natadola.

The nursery – which began on one hectare of land and now spreads over seven hectares – houses some 100,000 plants in 120 varieties, with a further 30,000 plants being grown in various villages around Viti Levu, Fiji's main island. There are plans to expand the nursery to cover a much larger area later on.

The Natadola project will require 1.2 million plants over the next 18 months and the staff of the nursery and are well on their way to meeting the targets. The team is led by Australian Norman Carr and nursery manager Mahendra Kumar, who has 25 years of experience.

After starting off with six staff, the employee roll has grown to 35, with most of the workers coming from six nearby villages. Carr says the nursery is expanding on a daily basis and expects to spend some $300,000-500,000 over the next six months buying plants from the villagers.

The Natadola Plant Nursery also works with three other nurseries, including that belonging to the Lautoka City Council, from where they get their "propogation stock".

The Natadola Nursery is a model of community development, while meeting the needs of resort's developers. Villagers are given a deposit when they are contracted to provide plants to the nursery. Halfway through, nursery staff visit the villages to check on the health of the plants and pay a further "incentive" deposit. Once the plants are ready to be transferred to the nursery, the villagers are given their final payment.

Carr says this arrangement works well for the villagers, who are receiving a regular income, and for the nursery which is able to meet the demands of the Natadola Marine Resort development.

"As we grow, so do the local people grow with us. We are expanding on a daily basis. In the next six months we will be spending $300,000 to $500,000 which will literally be distributed right throughout the local vicinity, using the local villagers to help us get to the large numbers of plants that we require, " said Carr.

The nursery will eventually go commercial, supplying the needs of resorts, developments around the country