12 Nov 2010

Tonga candidate calls for focus on agriculture niche

3:20 pm on 12 November 2010

An Auckland lawyer campaigning for this month's elections in Tonga says the country can turn its beleaguered economy around by focussing on areas such as niche agriculture.

Tonga is struggling with the government forced to cut allocations to many departments in the last budget by up to 20 percent.

The leader of the Paati Langafonua Tu'uloa, Sione Fonua, says one of the advantages Tonga has is its small size which allows changes to be made easily.

"You don't need heaps of export produce. Tonga's soil is very well known for its very very high fertility and you can actually, instead of going for mass production, you can go for niche markets, like organic produce and all these things. I think that should be the way to go."