Picture: Minister Reddy at Paipai in Lautoka.

Strong and secure agricultural growth is possible through the active engagement of all relevant stakeholders within the sector to ensure that the upward trend in recent growth patterns for the sector are maintained. 

With the current COVID-19 pandemic having a strain on Fiji's economy, and seeing as the tourism sector was one of the worst affected, and further exacerbated by the occurrence of natural disasters, there is an urgent need for a national movement to ensure agricultural growth is advanced and sustained.

This was the message shared to farmers of Paipai and Viseisei Back Road in Lautoka and at Navo in Nadi by the Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy yesterday while conducting informal talanoa sessions with the farming communities there.

"Following COVID-19 the tourism sector came to a standstill (and is still at a standstill) and the situation is still quite bad in terms of economic activity, our borders remain closed, our tourism sector is closed and that is having a major impact on our economy," he said.

"Also, because of this pandemic people are not able to conduct business as they used to, investment and businesses are affected but during this time, the agriculture sector continued to grow, in fact last year compared to 2019 our exports grew by 15% in volume and in value terms it grew by about 25% which is a remarkable achievement," said Hon. Reddy.

"We need to have a national movement for agricultural expansion, we cannot lose this opportunity where there is a convincing argument and an opportunity for exports as there continues to be massive demand in export markets in the US, Australia and New Zealand," he added.

Farmers were also urged to coordinate and to liaise more closely with the Ministry to better organize and to tap into the export markets more aggressively to ensure Fiji continuously meets its export targets. 

Hon. Reddy also urged farmers to constantly discuss avenues to improve their production and to continue to grow their farms because in this process, the agriculture sector will grow in line through their active participation, the farming households will benefit and this fulfils national objectives, and as farmers grow, their production is aggregated, ensuring the country's economy grows with them. 

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