Picture: Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Dr. Mahendra Reddy hands out seedlings to farmers alongside BAT Fiji’s General Manager Damian Bruty under the Grow+ (Plus) program between MoA and British American Tobacco (BAT)

Farmers throughout the country will gradually receive 500,000 seedlings of various vegetables as part of a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and British American Tobacco (BAT) Fiji to boost farming yields and create opportunities for their long-term future.

This is all being made possible through BAT Fiji’s 'Grow+ (Plus)' programme which was upscaled from its previous 'Project Seedling' programme, which saw the distribution of 150,000 seedlings in its first phase of implementation to the Agriculture Ministry earlier this year.

The 500,000 vegetable seedlings, which are being supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture to BAT, will be prepared at BAT Fiji's Leaf Growing Division in Votualevu, Nadi using its agricultural expertise and extensive greenhouse infrastructure to cultivate the seedlings prior to nationwide farmer distribution.

Speaking at the launch of the Grow+ (Plus) programme earlier this week, Minister for Agriculture Dr. Mahendra Reddy said BAT’s continuous support towards producing good quality seedlings was a noteworthy endeavour.

“The measures held by BAT Fiji have contributed to improving vegetable production for our farmers and raising opportunities for stakeholders to keep working towards developing and advancing the sector as much as possible.

“This significant community investment and partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and BAT Fiji will allow us to produce more locally grown fruits and vegetables, reduce our reliance on imports and improve export opportunities,” said Minister Reddy.

“There is a huge potential in our export markets, our agriculture produce can be increased to assist the agricultural sector and its contribution to the economy by improving our balance of payment,” he added.

Minister Reddy added that other developments were being explored through this partnership to further enhance farmer livelihoods and the agricultural sector as a whole.

“BAT Fiji is looking at this as a long-term partnership with the Fijian Government for the growth of our economy and our communities,” said Minister Reddy.

Meanwhile, General Manager of BAT Fiji, Damian Bruty said the organization was committed to helping farmers secure their food security, highlighting the impact that Grow+ (Plus) Project would have on farmers throughout the country.

“Our Grow+ (Plus) programme will significantly increase seedlings from 150,000 to 500,000 seedlings and even further to 1 million seedlings next year.

“BAT Fiji always puts our farmers’ front and centre of its focus. Last year, we started Project Seedling, an avenue to provide farmers with seedlings that would secure additional income. This was a successful project that allowed us to enhance farmer livelihoods,” said Mr. Bruty.

“Grow+ (Plus) will enhance our immediate food security, improve farmer livelihoods, give farmers good practice for crop rotation and diversification, increase our exports, and provide import substitution,” he added.

Mr. Bruty elaborated BAT Fiji would use its expertise in farming and would share their technical knowledge to design and implement the programme through their Growing Excellence Framework.

“Our growing excellence framework that resulted in more than 60% improvements in our farmer yield over the last two years, we will share these learnings with our farmers through Grow+ (Plus),” he said.

“BAT Fiji is committed to our farmers and through our Grow+ (Plus) programme, we will be able to provide more opportunities for their long-term future.”

The Grow+ Plus programme enhances immediate food security and it also allows for an alternative source of income to support economic recovery, while simultaneously driving the good practice of crop rotation amongst our farmers.

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