An agreement under New Zealand aid, valued at $1,411,000, was signed for the Uluisaivou cattle project in Ra during the 1970s. The agreement was formalized in Suva by the Minister for Agriculture, Ratu Josua Toganivalu, and the New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, Graham Ansell. This event was reported in The Fiji Times on Wednesday, July 7, 1976.
The aid package included approximately $343,000 for materials and equipment, $47,000 for crop development, pasture research, and communications. It also covered the importation of 1,800 cattle from New Zealand and Australia, as well as the assignment of both a general manager and a ranch manager.
Uluisaivou was the focal point of a 100,000-acre beef ranch scheme established by a corporation of Fijian landowners. Ratu Josua expressed the Fiji Government’s gratitude for New Zealand’s assistance, acknowledging the magnitude of the government’s commitment to the project.
John Stone, a New Zealander appointed as the scheme’s general manager, attended the signing ceremony and reported significant progress in fencing and general building works. Equipment and 300 cattle had already arrived from New Zealand and Australia prior to the agreement signing.
According to the agreement, the Uluisaivou Corporation would repay most of the New Zealand aid funds to the Development Bank, which would then reinvest the money into additional agricultural loans.