Fiji Co-operative rolls out fodder programme
The Fiji Cooperative Dairy Company Limited (FCDCL) has launched the fodder development programme for dairy farmers in the country.
As part of the programme, FCDCL has prepared 11 packages consisting of farming equipment for distribution to 11 groups, with each group having three to five farmers.
FCDCL chief executive officer, Sachida Nand said each package was worth about $26,000 and the machines were imported from India.
Each package has a 15 horsepower tiller, a trailer that can carry 1.5 tonnes of load and a ripper that can cut grass that is needed for two to three days in one hour or so and a high speed chaff cutter.
On Tuesday, the first package was delivered to dairy farmers in Lodoni, Tailevu, where the Minister for Agriculture, Inia Seruiratu, also addressed them on the importance of increasing milk production.
Mr Nand told the farmers that one of the initiatives to develop the dairy industry was through this package, which would help develop fodder, reduce feeding cost and increase efficiency on the farm. “Farmers have to work in groups and share the cost of running the machines. The package is designed to get farmers to work together. It’s very, very hard for small holder farmers to work alone. Working in isolation is no longer an option,” he said.
“The ownership of the machines will remain with FCDCL. If the machines are sitting idle and not being utilised properly, then FCDCL reserves the right to take the equipment and give to some other group that can put it to better use.”
Mr Nand said FCDCL, through the Agriculture Ministry, would purchase more machines and the objective was to continue such assistance for dairy farmers for the next four to five years.
The objective is to slowly mechanise the dairy industry, decrease cost of production and increase efficiency.
The 11 groups that will be assisted this year have been selected from different supply base of FCDCL, which covers Navua, Burebasaga, Tailevu, Waidewara and Naitasiri.