11/10/2021
NABITU FARMERS CLUSTER RECEIVE PORTABLE RICE MILL
The issue of rice milling for farmers of Nabitu settlement on the Sigatoka East Bank will now be a thing of the past.
This after a portable rice mill was officially handed over today to the Nabitu Farmers’ Cluster by the Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy to address one of the binding constraints faced by farmers within the area when it comes to rice farming, that of rice milling.
While handing over the mill, Minister Reddy shared that currently, more than 80 per cent of rice was imported annually as it had become a major staple food for Fijian households.
“Of all the rice that we consume, 84 per cent of the rice is imported, we want to reduce that, we are losing approximately $60million per year on imported rice, we can save that, if every farmer grows their own rice, we can substantially reduce rice importation.
“So there is no reason why we cannot grow at least one crop, the rice variety that we are promoting is a 100-day rice – just over 3 months, you plant today, just over 3 months, you can harvest the rice, it is a rain-fed rice, so you don’t need to make your rice fields boggy and it is rice that is also good for consumption,” he said.
Hon. Reddy also told farmers that during their next rice harvest and after their rice was dried, farmers of Nabitu would no longer need to travel far from their settlement or spend money on transportation to mill their rice for their family’s consumption.
Seeing as Nabitu settlement was a predominantly vegetable farming area, Minister Reddy urged farmers to also take up rice farming, if they hadn’t already, to help decrease the rice import bill.
Meanwhile, Nabitu advisory councillor Rajesh Singh acknowledged the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture to their farming community through the provision of agriculture support via technological development and advice.
“I thank the Ministry of Agriculture for this portable rice mill because through it, more farmers have now shown an interest in growing rice again, also, we are now able to mill our rice here after harvesting it,” said Mr. Singh.
“We used to grow rice here 20 years ago and have just recently re-grown it here in Nabitu, this is a vegetable farming area, but now there are more farmers willing to grow rice after the assistance being brought to the area for rice farming as they want to grow it for their own consumption,” added Mr. Singh.
The portable rice mill is part of the European Union funded Pro-Resilient Fiji project which is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to support the Ministry of Agriculture’s wider aim to ensure food and income security for Fijian farmers.
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