WATI TOMASI MOCEVAKACA

BVet, Science and Animal Husbandry (FNU)

  • My paternal side originates from the Totoya, which is one of the group of islands making up the Lau group which is on the eastern side of Vitilevu. My maternal side originates from Nadoria, Rewa situated near Nausori, Vitilevu. While I was pursing my Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Science, the idea and prospect to work in the academic and research field was always a dream to achieve. I believe that through research I can give back and contribute to the livelihoods of my small community and my country as a whole. Through various work, attachments, internships and volunteering , I saw there was an in depth need to strengthen Fijis animal production system in order to improve rural livelihoods, securing food and the economy as a whole.

    In Fiji, milk production is at a loss where the market and consumer target is not reached. This can be due to a lot of factors such as climate change, land tenures, poor nutrition of animal, poor health of animal and cattle diseases. Health of dairy calves is of outmost important in order to attain future healthy herd reaching their potential yield. Calf diarrhea is one of the leading problem in calve death and impairment of health in cattle. A significant aspect is the misuse of antibiotics drugs administered in the dairy cattle sector adding further disaster in milk production. This also ultimately results in Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) devastating the dairy sector as well as to the environment and to the human sector (One Health). Hence, my research will look into the prevalence and sensitivity patterns of bacteria isolated from calves suffering from diarrhoea to antibiotics drugs being administered. This is done in order to collect baseline data on such and in future curb this rising global problem in Fiji.

  • • Animal Health
    • Animal Production
    • Dairy
    • Misuse of Antibiotics in Dairy Cattle
    • Antimicrobial Resistance
    • One Health

  • Masters of Science in Agriculture
    Project Title: Prevalence and antibiotics sensitivity patterns of bacteria isolated from calf diarrhoea in Fiji.

    ACIAR Project - LS/2019/119
    Enhancing the management of antimicrobiol resistance in Fiji

    Supervisor: Dr Royford Magiri, Fiji National University
    Co-Supervisor: Dr Walter Okelo, CSIRO

    Click here for more information (available on the ACIAR website).

  • Fiji Times - Trailblazing to the top: http://bit.ly/3E2cIZw

    PASS-CR - Meet the 2022 Future Thinkers in Pacific Climate Resilience: https://bit.ly/3KtRaXi

    PASS-CR - Future Thinker Awardees celebrated in Fiji: https://bit.ly/3exOITY

  • Twitter: @WMocevakaca
    LinkedIn: Wati Mocevakaca
    ORCiD: 0000-0003-1644-0759

Wati Tomasi Mocevakaca is a 2022 PASS-CR Scholar completing a Masters of Science in Agriculture at Fiji National University. Her research investigates the prevalence and antibiotics sensitivity patterns of bacteria isolated from calf diarrhoea in, in hopes of curbing this rising global problem in Fiji. Wati is also an inaugural recipient of a 2022 Future Thinkers Award, with which she will explore farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and risk, and how that impacts dairy management practices.