Villagers of Bavu in Nadroga are now part of a government initiative to help them cash-in on the growing demand for rice in Fiji, as seeds and other forms of assistance will also be provided for land preparation.
While commissioning the Bavu Communal Rice Scheme, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says residents of Bavu are close to the beating heart of Fijian tourism in Nadi, and have faced hardship of the past year.
Bainimarama says many of them are now relying on the government's unemployment assistance.
He says as farmers, due to the loss of visitors and their demand for Fijian produce, they may not fetch the same prices at the market that they did one year ago.
Bainimarama says no matter the difficulty we face, we can always look to our land to sustain us and to provide for us.
The Prime Minister say the Ministry of Agriculture through the nationwide Cash for Cultivation initiative will be boosting support for rice growing in Viti Levu.
He says if farmers cultivate at least one acre or more of rice, they will be granted $200.
Bainimarama says their first priority for this industry is to meet the massive demand already here in Fiji but that is not where their ambition ends.
He says on average, they imported 40,000 tonnes of rice into Fiji every year and that is about $40 million worth of rice grown in places like South East Asia, that ends up on the dinner tables of Fijian families.
Bainimarama says last year, Fiji’s farms produced 5,748 tonnes of rice with nearly every grain going to satisfy demand in Fiji.
He says the remaining 87 percent represents opportunity and due to the severe economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot let opportunities as obvious as rice growing go to waste.
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