Agricultural Exports Take Off
Agricultural exports have taken off substantially despite all odds. Minister for Agriculture, Mahendra Reddy says they are are getting the fundamentals right, incentivising the farmers and working closely with the exporters to raise exports.
Paved opportunities
In a statement released by the Minister said: “Although COVID 19 has brought much vulnerability to the forefront, the pandemic has paved opportunities the nation need to capitalise on.
“The Ministry has seized this opportunity through implementation of Agriculture Initiatives which have contributed to achievement of specific economic indicators such as export.
“The total crop and livestock domestic export in the form of fresh chilled and value added recorded
Fiji Agriculture & Rural Statistics/Fiji Bureau of Statistics $121 million (FJD) in the first half of 2020 (January -June) which is an increase from $111m (FJD) that was recorded in the same period of 2019. This is a nine per cent growth in export despite the COVID 19 pandemic.
The contribution of only fresh and chilled exports increased from 14 per cent (4.9 million kg) in the first half of 2019 to 17 per cent (5.7 million kg) in the same period of 2020.
This supports the 15 per cent growth in volume and 11 per cent in value of export recorded in January to June 2020.”
Major commodities that contributed to the increase in export volume are Kava, Taro, Tumeric, Ginger, Fruits, Eggs, Mixture of Spices,
“Yam, Pineapple and other root crops. major export destinations that recorded increase in volume of export as compared to same period in 2019 are New Zealand, United States of America, Australia, Hawaii and Pacific Island Countries. On this front, the sector could achieve an annual export figure of $60m by end of 2020 and the Ministry hopes to increase this to a $100m in two years’ time as alluded to by Mr Reddy at the Fiji Farmers Forum in Nadi last week,” Minister Reddy said.The Ministry fully understood the impact of COVID-19 and the demand for agriculture as the backbone of Fiji’s economy. “And this has pushed the Ministry to another level to formulate plans and strategy that will not only sustain us through this pandemic but enable us to bounce back better.
“So we think we will probably be here for another two years.”