2017 National SME of the Year – Devesh & Bharos Farms

Devesh & Bharos Farms – Winner 2017 National SME of the Year in the National SME of the Year Category sponsored by Fiji Development Bank

Devesh and Bharos Farms

Devesh and Bharos Farms [DBF] is commercial nursery in Votualevu, Nadi supplying high quality seedlings and other crops suitable for export to a network of local farmers, tourism wholesalers as well as exporters of agricultural produce at large volumes.

DBF has championed in its local community by showing considerable contribution to creation of decent work by employing close to twenty locals, of which 15 are women.

Devesh & Bharos Farms
Winner of the Green Conscious SME Award in the Value-adding SMEs Category sponsored by New India Assurance Fiji

Farmers with access to quality seedlings from DBF are better enabled to produce higher yields and new varieties of crops throughout the year, enabling them to plat produce during off-season periods.

This positions the SME to promote financial inclusivity in its clienteles’ community apart from just providing a highly-valued local service. As farmers produce more and better quality produce, their sales to exporters and the tourism sector increases, in turn increasing their own incomes.

Devesh & Bharos Farms
Winner of the Most Resilient SME Post T C Winston Award in the Special Awards Category sponsored by Reserve Bank of Fiji

Tropical Cyclone Winston caused considerable loss to DBF’s seedling stock and structural damages to their nursery in 2016 and was assisted by the Fiji Development Bank [FDB] and Market Development Facility [MDF] for rehabilitation.

The SME showed resilience and did not just bounce back for business but became one of the nurseries used by the EU and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to support the rehabilitation of Fijian farmers post TC Winston. DBF supplied 20,000 fruit and vegetable seedlings to the Ministry of Agriculture through the EU funded IKSA programme to boost the country’s food security efforts by supplying farmers with seedlings to regrow their crops.

To strengthen its own disaster resilience, DBF has employed the idea of storing its seedlings in containers which have been slightly modified for storage.

MDF is also now helping DBF to improve its internal business controls to better manage the expansion of its business and assist the company with disaster mitigation plans to better enable them to become disaster resilient.

Devesh & Bharos Farms
Winner of the Climate Change Responsive SME Award in the Responsive SMEs Category sponsored by Mechanical Services Limited

DBF’s Managing Director Devesh Nath started the farm with minimal resources sourced from his farm for personal use. After seeing a surge in demand for seedlings from farmers, he constructed a proper nursery for business with financial assistance from his family and later formed partnership with MDF as well as FDB.

The newly completed DBF’s greenhouse is currently operating in full capacity and can now raise 70,000 seedlings per month covering a variety of horticultural vegetables, fruits and crops.

The facility has the capacity to raise 3 million seedlings a year.

Congratulations to Mr. Devesh Nath, Devesh and Bharos Farms.