A new portable rice mill was handed over by the Minister for Agriculture, Dr Mahendra Reddy yesterday to the Barotu South Farmers Association.
Barotu South Farmers’ Association President, 58 year old Jayant Ram, said his members were very happy with their new portable rice mill as it will save them time and money.
"We have about 20 farmers and we had a milling problem. We used to take our rice from Barotu to Rakiraki. When we reached Rakiraki, we were told the mill was not working or it was damaged. We have no choice but to return with our unmilled rice. Now we are very happy that we have a milling machine. It will save us time and cost,” Mr Ram said.
Mr Ram said his members harvested close to ten tonnes of rice, of which they kept some for home consumption and the rest was sold to Fiji Rice Limited.
Minister Reddy expressed similar sentiments and said the new rice mill meant the Barotu South Farmers would not have to travel long distances just to mill the paddy they harvested and thanked the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the European Union for supporting the Ministry in this initiative.
He encouraged all farmers who were not already planting rice to do so.
“That will be more than enough to fulfil your households' demand for rice in one year,” he said.
He said with Fiji’s rice import bill of 40,000 tonnes at a cost of $40 million annually, Fiji through its Fijian farmers had the ability to substantially reduce that amount.
The Minister also acknowledged the Barotu farmers’ expertise in producing okra on a commercial scale while planting rice at the same time.