In his 2021-2022 Budget Response reply last week in Parliament, Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy said the Ministry did not rely solely on its budgetary allocation to carry out its activities.

Though a majority of the capital programmes undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture was made possible through the annual budgetary allocation, Hon. Reddy said some of its most effective programmes, which benefitted a majority of Fijians, was via public-private partnerships.

Minister Reddy said the Ministry's executive management continuously pursued options to secure development partner support on key initiatives and projects, some of the examples of which included the Cash for Cultivation Programme, Back to Rural Agriculture Programme, provision of planting materials such as seeds obtained from India recently and other infrastructure development projects such as the state of the art greenhouse which was now well underway.

He said the Ministry would continue to encourage support from their development partners and agencies on key projects and initiatives which would further strengthen their agricultural footprint and performance in Fiji, all of which fostered mutually beneficial interests for all engaged institutions and beneficiaries.

“The Ministry will continue to engage and build strong lasting partnerships with all relevant internal stakeholders, potential investors, agencies, and farming communities as we continue to make progress on our mission to ‘Grow Beyond’ and maintain a forward focus in leading the Agriculture transformational agenda beyond incremental growth,” said Hon. Reddy.

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