Forty farmers of the Wainibuka district, Tailevu were trained as part of continued efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture to promote farming as a business and increase food and income security for Fijians.
The Ministry’s agriculture officer (AO) in Tailevu, Malakai Rasolo said that training which recently took place at Wailotua Village, was to assist men; women and youth farmers develop a proper plan focusing on natural resource management for sustainable farming.
“There is a need to promote farming as a business and as a form of employment to alleviate poverty in Fiji,” he said.
Mr Rasolo added that the majority of the participants lacked the skills in farming as a form of business thus this training was of great help to them.
Senior Agriculture Officer Farm Management and facilitator of the training, Mrs Naomi Naiqumu said the Ministry was delighted that the training did not only benefit men but also the women and youth.
“Participants to the training were taught on how to develop goals for a farm business, how to define and describe the physical environment of the farm, how to assess the condition of the farm’s natural resources and the viability of the farm plan,” she said.
Farmers at the training were taught on how to make thorough decisions in the choice and running of the farming enterprises.
Ana Colaisala aged 21 said she had a farm with dalo, cassava and vegetables but still she lacked skills on how to plan. Speaking in the iTaukei language, she said that after the training, she was able to make a proper plan about her farm.
Another participant, thirty nine year old Malakai Labaibure said that he really enjoyed the training with the belief that it is very important as a farmer to keep Farm Records.
Mrs Naiqumu revealed that further training such as this one would be conducted for farmers in the Lomaiviti Group.