Agriculture ministry plans to boost Fijian economy
Government is looking at reviving agriculture as one of the backbones of the Fijians economy.
Minister for Agriculture and Waterways, Vatimi Rayalu said statistics show that non-sugar agriculture has exceeded sugar in terms of economy.
“That is a very healthy sign and I will want to strengthen that. There will be certain areas that we need to strengthen in terms of our production base.
“In terms of crops and livestock, unless we have necessary production then we can start exporting more, but if we don’t have the necessary production base, it will be a struggle.
“We need to make sure that those who should be assisted are assisted and there’s no selective assistance system. The ministry will look at some of the ways that assistance has been given so that we can improve on that.
“In the final analysis, it’s about improving the production base and improving the contribution of agriculture to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of exports and reducing the food imports,” he said.
Yaqona
He said one of the major crops in terms of revamping agriculture’s contribution to the economy was yaqona.
“Hygiene is something that has been raised by exporters and buyers. These are some of the areas that we need to look at because if we want to penetrate the United States (US) market. The US Food and Drug Administration standards are quite strict. We have to see that we meet the international standard and that is what we intend to fix for the yaqona industry,” he said.
Mr Rayalu said his ministry would look into ways of improving its service.
He said no ministry staff was at risk of losing his or her job, and positions needed to be filled.
“We as a party have decided that there will be no chopping staff and keep our promises as in our manifesto about moving the retirement age to 60.
“We will revert to the old way of recruitment in the civil service. It is coming back so we look forward to a very bright future for our workers.
“There are fields that we have lost in terms of the technical positions in the Minister of Agriculture. We don’t have an entomologist, a qualified soil scientist and the Information section which is supposed to be telling what we’re doing as a ministry to the people.
“So these are areas that we will work on to try and bring back a certain level of confidence of our people in the agriculture sector,” he said.
Mr Rayalu said he has been briefed on the ministry’s work and said to expect changes in the coming weeks.
“You must expect changes in the way we do things, changes in the way we interact with each other, this Government recognises the freedom of the individual,” he said.
Mr Rayalu has more than five years of experience working at different levels within the
Ministry of Agriculture.
Edited by Maikeli Seru