FIJIS pathway to economic success lay in developing the agriculture sector.
Speaking to The Fiji Times at an Economics Conference in Nadi at the weekend, Westpac Group senior economist Justin Smirk said while the countrys economy was diversified and stable, the agriculture sector needed more development.
Fiji has lots of water and rich soil and it could do a lot more with it. For example, resorts should not be importing fruit and vegetables and this is one area that could be developed by stimulating small businesses to help provide these services, he said.
Mr Smirk said the development of platforms through which micro small to medium enterprises (MSME) could access local markets like resorts was vital to successfully growing the agriculture sector.
This is where micro businesses can work because you dont need a big corporation, you can have lots of small farmers as long as the structures is there for them to work with who can produce the goods.
There may be a need to have a middleman which could be government-organised at first to organise and liaise with local markets but this could be developed and passed onto the growers over time. There is a lot of opportunity and potential in agriculture in Fiji, said Mr Smirk.