School's giant cassava find

TEACHERS and students of Bulileka Sanatan Primary School in Labasa got a shock when a seven-month-old cassava plant bore a 20 kilogram crop.

Students from the school uprooted the plant on Thursday.

Headteacher Narsamma Naidu said they were thrilled to see such a gigantic crop in their yard.

"This is a rare sight and we are really surprised that we have this big crop right here in our school garden," Ms Naidu said.

"I asked the garden teacher to dig up a cassava plant for our morning tea because we decided to have tea with cassava this morning," she said.

Ms Naidu said they would cook some for morning tea and the rest would be shared among the teachers who were interested.

She said the growth of the plant would have to be attributed to soil fertility given the creek that flowed nearby.

She said five students planted the crop in December.