Rising food prices will have little effect on you and your family if you are willing to make adjustments.
This was relayed by Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment, Dr. Mahendra Reddy to Koroqaqa Farmers Co-operative in Baulevu while handing over a portable rice mill yesterday.
“We need to make adjustments in terms of substituting cheaper and healthier food for expensive imported products,” said Minister Reddy.
“It’s very important; households must learn to make adjustments. It is understandable for them to complain that the bundle of beans was $8 during the COVID-19 pandemic. You need to make adjustments to consume those agricultural produce which are less expensive; while supply resumes, prices go down, you can then resume consumption. That is how households need to make adjustments,” he added.
Minister Reddy revealed that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations had just released a report that highlighted the rise in food prices globally, however, he stressed that here in Fiji this wouldn't be an issue if we continued our home gardening program and continued on our agricultural expansion and production, ensuring supply was not an issue and that households too should make adjustments.
“We are very excited because at this time when countries are worried about food insecurity and increases in prices, we’re raising production to protect food security. We need to raise production of crops in which we have strategic advantages and one of these crops is rice,” he said.
"This year we recorded massive production of rice, the production this year was more than the production rate that was recorded last year.
Meanwhile, he also thanked the farmers for mobilising and pushing agriculture expansion; "We were able to increase exports. Agriculture exports in 2020 for the first time ever exceeded the $100 million mark; $106 million in 2020 and this went up further to $121 million in 2021," said Minister Reddy.
Mr. Abhay Singh, the Secretary of the Koroqaqa Farmers’ Co-operative thanked the Ministry of Agriculture for bringing the rice mill to Koroqaqa as it would assist the rice farmers in his area during harvesting.
“Now we don’t have to go to look for rice mills as we have it here with us. I am very thankful to this government for assisting rice farmers,” said Mr. Singh.