Alena Berauwa has been named Nursery Farmer of the Year at the Women in Agriculture Symposium, receiving the accolade at a ceremony held in the Grand Pacific Hotel’s ballroom in Suva. The 38-year-old mother of five was recognised for rapidly building a nursery business from her home in Navolau No 1, Ra, and for supplying seedlings to government reforestation and planting programmes.
Berauwa told the symposium audience that her work is rooted in the landscape that surrounds her. “Living in a place surrounded by God’s creation, it inspired me to take up farming and encouraged me to make good use of it,” she said. She launched Alena’s Nursery in 2023, initially nursing sandalwood seedlings, and has since broadened the operation to include fruit trees, native species and mangrove seedlings.
The nurseryman’s main customers are the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture, giving her business an early foothold in public-sector planting initiatives. Those contracts have helped Berauwa to expand capacity and consider wider ambitions: “I’m planning to scale up Alena’s Nursery to Fiji wide,” she said, outlining plans to distribute seedlings across the islands.
Her award and words at the Grand Pacific Hotel highlighted a wider push to get more women involved in agriculture. Berauwa used her acceptance speech to urge other women to start small and build skills and livelihoods from the land, linking local action to broader global challenges. “Due to the world crisis, I ask all women to take up farming, of any sort, start small and you’ll grow, just like my trees,” she said, referencing geopolitical tensions such as the growing crisis in the Middle East as a reason to pursue food and resource resilience.
Organisers of the Women in Agriculture Symposium said the Nursery Farmer of the Year award is intended to showcase female-led enterprises that combine commercial viability with environmental stewardship. Berauwa’s move into mangrove and native tree seedlings aligns with national priorities for coastal protection and reforestation, although she said she will continue to meet demand for fruit and timber species as she scales up.
As the latest development in efforts to strengthen women’s roles in Fiji’s agricultural sector, Berauwa’s recognition underscores how small, recent enterprises can quickly become partners in national conservation and planting programmes. With government ministries already among her primary customers, the coming months will be crucial for Alena’s Nursery as it seeks to increase production, expand distribution and translate the award into sustainable growth for her community in Ra.
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