Picture: Hon Minister for Agriculture Dr. Reddy with his Permant secretary Mr. Ritesh Dass supporting Fijian Made Products.

I urge Fijians to buy our locally made product, support our economy, support our farmers, and support our households, says Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment, the Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy. 

He made the comments while launching the newly developed pawpaw and pineapple dried fruits produced by the Fiji Agro Marketing Authority but the brainchild of the Product Development Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, the Minister said Government’s focus to expand agriculture was important for farmers to note in order to respond to market signals to increase production. 

“Expansion of market includes entering new geographical spaces; targeting new age groups to consume this new product; or substituting this product for something else,” he said. “Product development resolves issues of perishability, improves shelf life, and helps in transportation.” 

He said product development also took away the concern from farmers about finding a market for their commodity. 

“There is no longer the issue of finding a market because AMA will be buying that commodity,” he said. 

He said pineapple and pawpaw were two common fruits grown in Fiji and over the years there was a consistent increase in production. “Given that pineapple and papaya are widely grown in Fiji due to our favorable climatic conditions, it means we need to be get more land under production. 

“Production of pawpaw increased from around 3000 metric tonnes in 2018 to around 4000 metric tonnes in 2019. On the other hand, production of pineapple increased from 6000 metric tonnes in 2018 to around 7000 metric tonnes in 2019.” 

The Minister applauded AMA and Food Processors for establishing processing plants for pineapple that would incentivize farmers to raise productivity and production of both pineapple and pawpaw. 

He also acknowledged the Food Technologists at the Ministry of Agriculture for developing these new products before challenging them to come up with more innovative ideas to process and value add other agriculture commodities. 

-ENDS-

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