The Coalition Government has provided $5.5 million to the Ministry of Agriculture to revive the Fiji dairy industry which is facing a natural death.

Assistant Minister for Agriculture Tomasi Tunabuna said the allocation was the highest to date for the industry.

“This is a disaster, the dairy industry is on the verge of collapsing,” he said in Parliament last week during the Budget debate.

“We have started reviewing the entire dairy industry and the ministry has put aside $5.5m which is the highest budget ever allocated for the dairy industry.”

He said the industry could meet the market demand because of lack of resources, improper advice by the industry leaders and lack of insufficient assistance and incentives for farmers.

Mr Tunabuna said a budget of $800,000 for milk price incentives; a top-up of $0.18 cents for every liter produced by all registered dairy farmers in Fiji.

“This is a relief, but far from solving the rise in the production cost. This is worsened by poor genetics, old infrastructure, poor hygiene, and nutrition in our dairy farms.

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Story by: jone.salusalu@fijisun.com.fj