The development of the agriculture sector has been hindered by numerous binding constraints, with the Ministry of Agriculture continuing its role in identifying and addressing them.

This was relayed by the Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy to livestock farmers of Vanua Levu who received assistance for fencing kit materials to help develop their paddocks.

A constraint that continues to hinder the development and expansion of the livestock sector was the lack of developed paddocks for livestock farmers, which is being specifically targeted through the provision of fencing materials to livestock farmers throughout the country.

"There is an extent to which people can raise goat and sheep without having the proper paddocks so our aim is to migrate our small subsistence farmers into medium and large holding but to do that, we will need to provide them with fencing kits.

"As you know, you are there on the ground firsthand, undertaking goat and sheep farming, you can tether 2 to 10 goats individually but more than that is very difficult, what you need is a paddock, in the morning you guide them to the paddock and then you bring them back in the afternoon so a binding constraint to migrate from subsistence farming to medium or large holding is basically the ability to construct a paddock, establish a fence and develop a paddock where you can more aptly manage your livestock 

holdings" said Minister Reddy. 

"And this is exactly what we want to do, is to give you a leg up so you can establish your paddock and from there you need to grow on your own and treat this as a business.

"You must now grow on your own, while we will go and find another lot of farmers to be assisted so that progressively, we want to assist every livestock farmer in the country," he added.

Hon. Reddy also highlighted that the Ministry had set a target to reach and assist all farmers in the country at least once, with farmers who had already received assistance to be mindful of their counterpart farmers who were yet to receive assistance. 

"We want every livestock farmer in the country to be assisted once then after that, we can review the progress of your farming and you can then be eligible for further assistance, but only and until all farmers have received assistance. 

"We want you to excel, be successful because we do not want this investment to fail and after a couple of months, the fence is broken, no one repairs it and the sheep and goat are again outside the fenced area, it will be counter-productive and will be of no use, so please reinvest in your farms for your own benefit and grow from here," he said.

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