Imported vegetables
A recent study released, titled “From the farms to the tourist’s table- A study of fresh produce demand from Fiji’s hotels and resorts”, revealed that the country spent a whopping $794 million annually on imported food, including vegetables.
The report also positively stated that the spending could be reduced by $24 million by focusing resources on growing or producing such food items locally.
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It identified the gap in the supply and the demand cycle that could be of great value to the nation if the sector was professionally or systemically managed through expert advice and appropriate resources provided to the farmers.
Chillie planting in the country was once a flourishing business with abundant supplies in the markets and attractive prices.
That has diminished now and we rely on imports to provide for local consumption and that sounds absurd.
The chillies in Fiji can be grown all the year round, but for the best yield the farmers need to target February to March to sow the seeds.
The common varieties such as Hot Rod and Red Fire for export are harvested at green mature stage while Birds Eye should be harvested at colour red stage.
The demand for the export of the chillies continues to grow as more people are eating chillies now and there is growing popularity of local chillies as a result of the increasing number of Asian communities residing overseas apart from our local people.
Farmers who produce chillies for the New Zealand market should register their farms under the Bilateral Quality Agreement. This is to ensure that their produce meets New Zealand quarantine and health requirements.
According to the Food and Agriculture statistics Fiji, which began to compile production data of chillies since 1993, our peak and the best period of growing occurred between 2006 and 2009.
It then took a drastic dip and did not recover ever since.
I believe that this sector of agriculture lacks vision, mission and the value where the farmers can be assisted to take advantage of this cash crop.
Apart from our export quotes we do not have the ability to cater for local consumption and recently seen in the supermarkets are the vacuum packed frozen chillies imported from the Asian countries.
There is a huge need for the chillies locally and inconsistent methods and advice given by the experts are not making any difference.
It is hurting the local economy.
There is a great variance in the number of days taken for a particular variety to reach maturity.
Some can produce ripe fruit in 60 days from sowing and others take as long as 120 days. This industry needs to be efficient, reliable and resilient in its approach in order to adapt and align with the strategies set.
We have an excellent competitive weapon in our hands, but is botched and is not producing the desired result and allowing overseas competitors to survive.
This risk consequences need to be mitigated by improving the productivity aspect and pegging the variance hole through which the competition enters and hurts our agriculture sector.
Planting chillies is not a difficult task at all, but it has to be done in a consistent and organised manner to be commercially viable and the UK will be paying more or less?
Satish Nakched is our third Letter of the Month winner for September.
