Importance of modernisation in agriculture sector stressed
Ministry of Agriculture Officers have been reminded that farmers are relying on them for ideas and technical expertise. Minister for Agriculture Inia Seruiratu highlighted the importance of modernisation in the agriculture sector while addressing the staff at the Legalega Research Station in Nadi the past week. Mr Seruiratu reminded Agriculture Officers that farmers need not to rely on rain water due to the irregular weather pattern but to come forward and seek assistance from the development which is undergoing.
“Likewise for the livestock farmers, if you need irrigation or the bore hole or the dam let us know now because those are development that we need to do,” he said. “We have talked about modernisation and industrialisation and without irrigation, we will never modernise which is part of the modernisation process. “Because otherwise we will heavily rely on the rain and the irregular weather pattern that we are going through now, we need to have those. That’s the development that I am talking about as we are going through recovery.”
Mr Seruiratu urged the Agriculture staff to be vigilant and assist the farmers on whatever assistance they need. “Modernisation when you look out at the whole value chain, those are the things that you need and if the farmers need water than we must bring water in whatever form,” he said. “If they need Agro inputs than we have to bring Agro inputs. If they need suckers or seedlings and whether it is at the farm gate level, processing level, exports level in all phases and stages of the process, we need to identify what are the enablers within those.”