Fiji’s crop production has increased substantially by 27 per cent from 2018 to 2021.

Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Mahendra Reddy revealed this during the regional Meeting of POETCOM (Pacific Organic & Ethical Trade Community) Board, at the Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi yesterday.

Three years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture embarked on a journey to boost commercial Agriculture, to raise national income as well as bring in increasing amounts of foreign currency into the country.

Mr Reddy said: “Over this period, we have made substantial progress. Our crop production has increased substantially, from 252,319.2 metric tonnes in 2018 to 32,806.3 mt (2021), an increase of 27 percent.”

“This increased production has seen substantial increase in exports of fresh and chilled produce, surpassing sugar exports for two successive years, 2020 and 2021.”

“While we were pushing for expansion of commercial agriculture, we were concerned about the increasing use of inorganic fertilizers on our economy, loss of millions of dollars from importation of fertilizers and the negative impact of these fertilizers on the environment.”

“The decline in fertilizer use from 2020 can be attributed to our campaign to use more organic fertilizer. Despite this decline, the fertilizer import bill increased from $16.8m in 2018 to $19.6m in 2021.”

“As of to date, the Ministry has distributed more than 11,000 liters of Bacterium Culture to farmers and 24 bacterium culture tanks. As we speak, almost all Agriculture stations in Central, Northern and Western Divisions have installed their 500 litre Bacterium Culture tanks.

“This will enable them to supply to farmers in their nearby localities free of charge. Currently there are a total of 220, 000 hectares of certified organic land in 9 Pacific Island countries whereby 17% is located in Fiji.”

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