Agriculture graduates

Amrit Singh, Nausori

Fiji’s agriculture sector is facing challenging times, together with COVID-19.

I have seen many advertisements stating our agriculture is robust. The media is a funny thing to me. They can make you a hero and the next moment they can badly criticise you.

Recently, I was going through the graduation list for May 2020 of the Fiji National University’s College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, based at Koronivia, Nausori. Seventy-three (73) students will graduate with certificates in agriculture science.

Now to the wondering part. Where is the job available? I am an agriculture graduate and for the past two years I have not been able to find a job at the ministry, nor biosecurity. It is a shame that the ministry is not absorbing students.

I also had superior GPA, worked hard but to no avail. When we apply for jobs at the Ministry of Agriculture, it takes them three months to call us for job tests, four months to wait for that post to be processed and all we receive is regret letters. This has been the case for the past two years.

Where is the justice, I ask? I have seen people who never attended classes at FNU, but are working for the Ministry of Agriculture.

It is an utter shame and stressful for me to see those who worked hard are jobless.

I hope Government can help people like me find a job. COVID-19 isn’t helping and those who will graduate may God bless you in searching for jobs in the agriculture sector.