The Fiji Corrections Service’s (FCS) Yellow Ribbon Programme (YRP) continues to gain success through ongoing rehabilitation initiative to reform inmates.
Part of the success is a breakthrough made by the Service to export ginger to Australia and some other countries. The ginger is among crops planted under the commercial arm of YRP.
This was revealed yesterday by the Commissioner of Corrections, Lieutenant-Colonel Ifereimi Vasu, during the Media Morning Walk through Naboro Corrections Complex yesterday.
Media personnel were invited by the Service yesterday morning to tour the complex and witness some of the rehabilitation and training programmes conducted under the YRP.
They toured the rootcrops, vegetables and ginger farms, the piggery, poultry, joinery and the tailoring section.
Lieutenant-Colonel Vasu said the initiative was to teach inmates farming and business skills which could help them after being released from prison.
“We teach inmates how to utilise the land and apply everything they learn when they get out of prison,” Lt-Col Vasu said.
“We bring them out here so they can learn various ways of planting and applying certain skills and methods to achieve something when they get out of prison.
“We have seen changes in their attitude when we take them out of their cells to do some work on the fields. We teach them how to plant dalo, ginger and vegetables. This way they can have more opportunities in achieving more things when they finished their term.
““Last year we planted ginger and sold it to our local markets and this year we are exporting it to Australia and other parts of the world.
“We teach them inter-cropping so they are able to learn to produce a greater yield. They make use of resources that would otherwise not be utilised by a single crop.”
He calls on the general public for assistance in helping inmates rebuild their lives after serving their prison sentences.
“Our main concern is what they can do once they are out there and we hope that they will be recognised and offered assistance by their communities and the Ministry of Agriculture in planting and utilising some unused lands in the village or in their communities,” he said.