The Budget allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture of $61.9m for the next financial year is sufficient to support programme activities that will address the impact of COVID-19, says Minister for Agriculture, Waterways, and Environment, Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy while responding to the 2021-2022 Budget in Parliament on Tuesday (27.7.21).

He said other programme activities the new financial year budget would support included pursuing opportunities to ensure food and income security and sustainable livelihoods for all Fijians focusing on building community resilience in Fiji’s Agriculture sector.

The Minister acknowledged the crisis that COVID-19 had brought to Fiji and its impact felt across all sectors, including agriculture.

“The current pandemic has disrupted food supply chains throughout the world creating an unprecedented impact on Fiji’s agriculture sector. It has brought vulnerability to the forefront and at the same time create opportunities that the Ministry can capitalize on.

“These opportunities enable the fulfilling of two critical strategic objectives highlighted in the Agriculture Growth and Expansion Plan - (i) securing the country for its food and nutritional requirements and progressively expanding Agriculture to its full potential; (ii) improve livelihood of rural communities, provide employment opportunities and promote sustainable agricultural practices to mitigate climate change issues,” Dr Reddy said.

He explained the budget of $61.9m for the new fiscal year would be used to support 83,395 farmers.

“Conversely, with the sugar sector which has been allocated $72.1m to cater for the need of just over 11,000 sugarcane farmers. This again shows the effectiveness of spend and where we are getting the biggest bang for our buck,” he said.

Dr Reddy said a total of 70,991 farming household was recorded during the 2020 Fiji Agriculture Census (FAC) compared to 65,000 recorded in 2009.

He said this indicated that more people were resorting to agriculture as their source of livelihood hence the Ministry was committed to review and refine its approaches to meet this upsurge.

The Minister commended the Minister for Economy for an excellent and comprehensive Budget that would support economic recovery, rejuvenate private sector activity, protect jobs, assist the unemployed and maintain overall macro-fiscal sustainability.

-ENDS-

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