Fiji’s largest ginger producer empowers local women in farm transformation

Ranadi Plantation Partnership is Fiji’s largest organic ginger farm and has been owned by the same family for three generations. It is Fiji’s first farm with GLOBALG.A.P. certification. Comprising 62 hectares, Ranadi is located on Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. The main export crop is fresh ginger, with the farm producing a wide range of other fruits, vegetables, and spices. The farm’s mission is to provide discerning customers with the best tasting ginger, using only the highest quality organic and responsible farming methods.  

Soil husbandry is seen as the key to sustainable large-scale agriculture, and the farm focuses on not only maintaining and replacing its soil, but also on increasing the soil’s fertility and volume by using organic and biological techniques. 

In 2013, the staff at Ranadi began the journey of turning a conventional farm into a more sustainable, organic one. However, on their first audit for GLOBALG.A.P. certification, they only reached 45% compliance. They therefore spent the following months putting the operation on its head and getting the farm up to scratch. “Our journey has been immense, it’s been a rollercoaster”, explains Jodi Smith, CEO of Ranadi Plantation Partnership. “We started out four years ago as a totally non-compliant farm, and we turned it around. So, it’s a huge achievement for all of us,” she continues. 

The farm has also greatly promoted women in agriculture, with over 75% of the farm’s staff currently being women. Ranadi's CEO and COO are both women, and women are trained to fill leading positions, with three of the six team leaders being women. “Women-power has certainly been very important for our success. But the men who are in the company have also been fantastic. And they have done pretty well to be around such strong women,” CEO Jodi Smith says with a smile. 

Reaching out to other farmers and providing insights into Good Agricultural Practices has also become a very big part of what the farm does. Since achieving GLOBALG.A.P. certification, Ranadi has regularly opened its doors to other farmers, providing training on topics such as recycling and sustainable soil management. 

The company has already successfully implemented a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, including “the enhanced use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women” and “reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land.” 

Ranadi's vision is to help facilitate a return to heritage agricultural techniques in Fiji. By being a model business (the company is one of Fiji's few farm-packhouse-exporters), Ranadi aims to show the agricultural sector that organic, sustainable practices – "the old ways" – are commercially viable and can be translated into exciting branding stories and value-added products. 

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