Picture: Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy handing over keys to the Kaubulabula Farmers Cooperative at Mataniwai Village in Macuata

There can be no growth at the farm level without savings and investment.

The Minister of Agriculture Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy stressed this to farmers in Vanua Levu, who received portable rice mills and farming equipment this week from the Ministry of Agriculture. 

Highlighting the growth rate of the agriculture sector to the farmers over these past two years, Hon. Reddy said to ensure the continued upward trajectory of the sector locally, it required farmers to divert their surplus income back into their respective farming ventures to develop and increase their productivity.

Minister Reddy also noted that the long-term sustainability, productivity and growth of rural farming households, were dependent on several critical household attributes such as the willingness to save for critical farming investments as well as for disaster risk management and mitigation.

"Treat your farming as a business, reinvest in your farms and incorporate business models into your farm to grow and develop your farming entrepreneurship.

“The basics of agriculture business is for you to grow for the market and sell that surplus to buy or construct houses, better facilities etc. and to grow your farm, so you need to utilize your land," he said.

"Continue to grow for the market because, in this regard, we want to see surplus created by individual agricultural entrepreneurs being reinvested into the introduction of new technologies and to develop yourselves as farmers and as agri-entrepreneurs,” added Hon. Reddy.

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