The biggest farm on Kakien island, Kelepene is in the Oupo’opotu district. It is near our capital, Kiapto, where we have all of our markets to sell the produce. We transport the produce by truck to the city and by boat from the port where we export our produce.

On the 120 acre farm, shifting cultivation is practiced which means that we grow crops on a field until we have depleted the nutrients in the soil and then move onto another field and let the natural vegetation restore. We then burn the natural vegetation with a controlled burn which re-introduces minerals to the soil beneath.

We do not utilize machinery like tractors and planters because it would leave many of our farm workers unemployed. Though we do use a backhoe to lift harvested crops to load onto trucks so as not to injure our workers.

We farm fruits and veggies like carambola, pipas, mangos, suagr cane, potatoes, and cassava. Yum!