Picture: Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy hands over the keys of the brand new Farmtrac tractor to Rokosalase Farmers' Cooperative Mr. Sairusi Masikanace.

The farming community of Rokosalase in Seaqaqa have praised the strides taken by the Fijian Government through the Ministry of Agriculture in providing the much-needed impetus to drive the sector’s growth.

While receiving their mini-tractor and 2-disc plough earlier this week, a jubilant Rokosalase Farmers’ Cooperative president Mr. Sairusi Masikanace showed his gratitude to the Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy and the Ministry saying that the members of the Rokosalase farming community had been in dire need of a tractor to boost their production levels.

“I am very happy today to receive this tractor and disc plough, because we are a small farming community and to receive this tractor from the Agriculture Ministry, we are overjoyed,” said Mr. Masikanace.

“There are people of different races here and we come from all over the country and we worked together to meet the one-third contribution so we could be considered for the programme, and when we were told that we were one of the last recipients in Vanua Levu, we were happy to be given this chance,” he said.

While handing over the tractor and 2-disc plough, Minister Reddy challenged them to continue to invest in their farming to improve their standard of living and to venture further into commercial agriculture.

“There is a number of binding constraints in agriculture, there are a number of critical factors that contribute to agriculture growth and development and one of those factors that we are emphasizing in the Ministry is that we need to improve the rate of mechanization.

“Agricultural growth cannot take place at the pace at which we want without introducing mechanization, the current era’s agricultural revolution requires mechanization, which is why we are pushing for more production by implementing this farm mechanization programme and the one-third, two-thirds programme and I thank you for investing in your farms, this is a step in the right direction,” Minister Reddy said.

“I salute you for taking this step and I look forward to you increasing your production further and raising your farming to a higher level.

The Rokosalase Farmers’ Cooperative received a brand new Farmtrac 30HP 4WD Tractor with an additional 2-disc plough which was made possible through the one-third, two-thirds development programme of the Ministry of Agriculture.

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