Assistant Minister Viam Pillay hands over rice seeds to Ministry after harvest;

Don’t leave land idle, Mr Pillay urges farmers.

The Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment, the handed 50 bags of rice seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture following harvesting at his farm in Ba during the Rice Field Day.

“The total harvest was 55 bags and out of that, 50 bags will go back to the Ministry of Agriculture to be given out to farmers, for seed distribution,” he said.

“This will help farmers grow rice.”

He expressed his gratitude to line Minister Mahendra Reddy, Fiji Rice Limited Chairman, Raj Sharma, and European Union Deputy Head of Delegation for the Pacific, Erja Askola for attending the special occasion.

He explained that while he used to encourage farmers to plant rice, it occurred to him that he should also be doing that.

He said rice used to be planted in the area together with sugarcane but farmers stopped due to the high cost of labour to manually harvest it.

He also thanked the Ministry of Agriculture for providing the rice seeds that enabled him to plant.

Further, Mr Pillay’s message to farmers was not to let their land become idle.

“Whenever I have time and I’m here at home, I make sure I plant,” he says.

Mr Pillay’s 15-acre farm boasts an orchard containing various fruit trees including dragon fruit, guava, pineapple, and lime.

He plans to form a rice cluster for neighboring areas in an effort to encourage farmers to plant and expand the industry to reduce reliance on imports.

Minister for Agriculture Reddy called Mr Pillay a ‘model farmer, a model sugarcane farmer, and a model social worker’.

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