10 Aug 2012

Fiji farmers keen on multi-cropping

10:19 am on 10 August 2012

The Fiji India Business Council says a big focus for farmers now is finding ways to grow more crops and make more money from the same amount of land.

For the first time, the Agriculture Show is being held in Fiji's Western Division this week to benefit the farmers affected by two devastating floods this year.

The president of the Fiji India Business Council, Swani Maharaj, says farmers have recovered well and there is now a continuous supply of crops going into the markets.

Mr Maharaj says many of the those at the show are interested in learning ways to multi-crop, like planting potatoes in between the sugar cane rows.

"Before the sugar cane grows to one and a half two feet, potatoes are already harvested. Similarly they want to plant okra and other vegetables in the sugar cane fields. With the price of sugar slightly down last year and previous years, this years it's gone up a little bit - but the question here is we want the farmers to have more income from the same amount of farm."