There has been an overwhelming response from the general public regarding the Agriculture COVID-19 Response initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture.
This was shared by Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy today in Sabeto, Nadi, who also highlighted that the Ministry would continue to play an integral role during such times of national disasters.
“I am pleased to announce that as of the end of last week, and within less than a month since launching the Home Gardening package, we have distributed 11,602 seed packages across Fiji.
“This comprised of 4,774 packages in the Central Division, 979 in the Western Division, 4,782 in the Eastern and 150 in the Northern Division respectively, additionally, 917 seed packages were distributed to employees of various NGOs, entities, and organizations,” he said.
“Cumulatively, this comprised of 129,024 individual packs of various commodity seeds that have been distributed to date to the general public,” shared Minister Reddy.
The initiative will greatly enhance food security by providing Fijians the following opportunities;
· Direct access to a diversity of nutritionally rich foods;
· Increased purchasing power from savings on food bills; and
· Fall-back food provision due to the potential decrease in production and trade caused by the TC Harold and COVID 19.
· Continuity and sustaining food supply through home gardening now and into the future.
Minister Reddy also mentioned that despite the distribution of such a large number of seed packages, there remain a large number of households who are interested in making full use of vacant land around their house to grow their food
Also, under the Farm Support package, which aims to boost the production of short-term crops by providing seeds and planting materials to farmers around Fiji, a total of 689 packages have been distributed to farmers in the four divisions. Of this, 165 packages were distributed in the Central Division, 220 in the West, 209 in the Northern Division and 92 in the Eastern Division respectively
“Whilst most farmers have been vastly hampered by adverse weather we have experienced recently, this initiative will ramp up now as we focus on our recovery efforts across all affected areas,” said Minister Reddy.
The Ministry of Agriculture will continue to fully support and assist our farmers to help them recuperate from TC Harold, as well as to further improve food security.
Under the Farms Support initiative, farmers can select the seed or planting material which they require from the targeted crops; Taro, Cassava, Rice, Kumala, Duruka, Eggplant, Chillies, Okra, Tomatoes, Maize, Bitter gourd, Pigeon pea, Cow pea, and Squash.
“We have now resumed in the preparation, and procurement of planting material and seed packaging, and we will resume this initiative within 2 weeks to ensure that the targeted households stated earlier also receive this package,” said Hon. Reddy.