Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has officially opened a smart nursery at the Koronivia Research Station today which is fully funded by Canada under their Fund for Local Initiatives.
While speaking at the event, Bainimarama says the smart nursery is a vital part of their long term effort to ensure that Fiji has food supply that cannot be unduly disrupted by climate change and extreme weather events like the 14 cyclones that have struck us since 2016.
He says cyclones and other climate driven events are intensifying and is hitting our people hard every year.
Bainimarama says these severe weather events can wipe out entire habitats, threatening the livelihoods of farmers driving up the price of food in the market and hurting our economy.
Bainimarama says Koronivia Research Station operates field nurseries where they could conduct research on more than 60 crop varieties.
The Non-Resident High Commissioner of Canada to Fiji Joanne Lemay says as ocean states with large maritime jurisdictions, Canada and Fiji share many priorities and collaborate in areas such as ocean management, fisheries and resilience to climate change induced natural disasters.
Lemay says the partnership and the establishment of this smart nursery is an example at the local scale of the work Fiji and Canada are undertaking to respond to the global challenges of climate adaptation.
Canada has provided $330,000 for the construction of the smart nursery and other associated activities.
