Fiji to boost its local rice production - FAO
Fiji is to get expert advice from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in order to rev up its local rice production and avoid relying on imports.
Transcript
Fiji is to get expert advice from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in order to rev up its local rice production and avoid relying on imports.
The FAO's regional coordinator for the Pacific, Gavin Wall, says its experts will provide training on the rice production cycle from land preparation and harvesting to storage.
Mr Wall told Amelia Langford there are many benefits to Fiji growing its own rice.
GAVIN WALL: Rice is a product that is increasingly being imported in many countries because to be really very simple and straightforward about it, if you and buy some rice and put it in boiling water in 20 minutes you have the basis of a meal. So it is a very attractive staple to be included in diet and home owners have responded to that. And so the Fijians wish to increase their domestic rice production and they have asked us to help by training their staff on really the whole cycle of rice production so helping with land preparation, helping with variety that are appropriate, cultural practices and then harvest and storage.
AMELIA LANGFORD: Okay. So they want to be able to eventually meet demand for rice from Fiji only?
GW: Well, I am not sure that they have a goal of 100 percent self-sufficiency. I think they have a feeling that they are importing too large a proportion of that crop and any country that is heavily reliant on food imports opens themselves up to global food price fluctuations and there is always a risk of in effect importing inflation. So it is my understanding that they want to increase domestic production, probably not to 100 percent.
AL: And so how can the FAO help with that?
GW: Well, what we're doing is we bring in technical expertise from other parts of the world and we train the officers in the Ministry of Agriculture in Fiji and they in turn work with farmers who express an interest in trying to grow some more rice. And for some it will be a new crop and in fact for many it will be a new crop and so they need assistance with how to go through that process to be able to recognise disease and pests and the like. So our role is to bring in technical expertise and transfer that expertise to the ministry officers in Fiji.
AL: Yes, and am I right in saying that rice is actually quite a challenging crop to grow?
GW: Yes, it is. It is not simple and straightforward. It has quite a reasonably high labour input because typically one transplants seedlings and there is obviously effort involved in harvesting the crop as well. And remember if you have never grown a crop before then that represents a difficulty for any farmer - no matter what crop that is. So it is important that they have access to good expertise.
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