Minister for Agriculture Dr. Mahendra Reddy met with exporters at Legalega Research Station in Nadi earlier this week .
Minister Reddy spoke on the role of exporters in the agriculture sector which is an integral one as the need to provide markets to farmers and agro-producers is critical.
“As exporters, you are a market and I urge you to provide markets to our farmers, there should be market signals to them that their produce will be purchased,” he said.
He added the issue of contracting farmers was to secure their markets, while also prompting them to focus on treating their farms as businesses.
He shared the need for more value-addition to Fijian primary commodities that could target niche export markets; “We’re here to grow the agriculture sector together and to pick up the excess that the farmers have and to market it out because we’re targeting on making the agriculture sector become the leading sector of the economy.”
Exporters met with senior management of the Ministry of Agriculture to express their concerns and views and to highlight the issues they faced, especially in light of COVID-19.
