Peceli Naviticoko 
Being a woman cane farmer is no easy task, but for Madhu Lata of Nagigi, Labasa, it has become a testament to resilience, sacrifice, and unwavering strength.
A widow and mother of three has been managing her family’s farm alone since the death of her husband in 2014.
Sharing her experiences on Mother’s Day, she shared the personal challenges she faced, but her children have been her main source of strength.
“I have to look after the farm; I have to look after the children, I’m facing a lot of problems because nobody is helping with my farm work, so I have to hire laborers. But I keep going.”
Lata is not just a sugarcane farmer; she also plants rice, manages a poultry farm, and grows vegetables, often doing the work herself with minimal help.
This includes spraying and fertilizing to harvesting and selling.
She highlighted recent tragic cases where women lost their lives to domestic violence and urged women to know that success is still possible without being dependent on others.
“So I’m just doing all the things by myself. I’m not hiring anybody. Also planting sugarcane, I just hired one or two laborers, and I did it all. Also spraying, I also do it by myself. I’m putting fertilizer. I’m having also a farm. I mean the chicken farming. I’m also doing the chicken farming. And also the vegetable farming. So I have to do a lot of work by myself.”
Lata adds that on this Mother’s Day, women, especially single mothers, should never give up but build against the challenges thrown at them through passion and God-given talent.
Meanwhile, as a message for Mother’s Day, health is also an issue that needs to be prioritized through the daily food intake and lifestyle practices.
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