Fiji's youth populace is being called to take up the mantle of agricultural expansion for the sustainability of the sector, as they are the future of the agriculture sector in all facets.

This was the message reiterated by the Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy to young farmers of Naividamu in Macuata while handing over small nursery packages to two youth groups of the village.

Hon. Reddy highlighted that their contributions to the sector have been tremendous and that they should receive the support of their respective communities to see them spearhead development for their village, district and province.

"Today we are here to recognize and give leverage to the youths of this village as there are enormous amounts of good, quality, fertile arable land here that can be put to use for the youths, the households here and in the national interest. 

"And it is our youth who will spearhead that development programme and that is why we are here making a call to all youths across the country to form clusters and we are ready to support them with materials, and equipment and undertake technical training," said Minister Reddy.

"We will also be designing special programmes for youths at our research stations, where we will be taking the youths, at our expense, for a week-long or fortnight-long training from next year, so there are big plans for our youth because we want to target these young-minded, able-bodied youth to get them into commercial agriculture," stressed Hon. Reddy.

He also highlighted that the stagnant development status of villages across the country was due in large part to their outlook on commercial agriculture.

"You are basically satisfied with semi-subsistence agriculture, subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture will never allow villages to grow because there is no surplus, this is simple basic economics. Any household, village, settlement, region or country that does not create a surplus cannot grow. If they just create or produce what they need to consume, there won’t be any growth and they’ll remain stagnant," shared Minister Reddy.

"It’s the elders who need to accept the commercial culture and allow youths to undertake commercial agriculture. Throughout Fiji, in the villages there is a lack of commercial agriculture because the elders are stopping it because they fear that if youth engage in commercial agriculture, they can be susceptible to a loss of culture, tradition and they think that it will be against the village norms and traditions, the decision is yours to support your youth take up commercial agriculture for your community's benefit," he said.

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