8,600 REGISTER INTEREST FOR NEW AGRICULTURE PROGRAMS
Close to 8,600 online applications have been received by the Ministry of Agriculture for the new programs recently announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Waterways and Environment, Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy.
Agriculture Acting Permanent Secretary, Dr. Vinesh Kumar said nine of the ten programs were open for three weeks from August 20 to September 10.
“When applications closed, we had received a total of 8,483 online forms together with the required documents which included a copy of farmer’s ID card, vaccination card, and evidence of land tenure status. The nine programs were Fencing Kits, Hydroponic System, Intensive Dairy Farming, Irrigation Kit, Land Clearing, Orchard Development, Protected Agriculture, Small Farming Equipment, and Women in Agriculture,” he explained.
“The program that received the most interest was the Small Farming
Equipment where 3,106 applications were received. Fencing kits was next in line with 1,466 applications, followed by Land Clearing with 1,208 applications. In essence, we were inundated with applications for all these programs, which showed that more Fijians are interested in agriculture,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary said the final program – Commercial Farmers Equity Package (CFEP) received a total of 59 applications after it closed in mid-September. CFEP, Dr Kumar said, targeted commercial farmers and agroprocessors who needed equity assistance when applying for Fiji Development Bank commercial agriculture loan.
Dr. Kumar explained the team was in the process of verifying details of applicants.
Decision will be made known to successful applicants following field verification.