Fiji Airways uplifts 70 tonnes of turmeric every week.
This is according to KPMG partner-in-charge of business services and Fiji-New Zealand Business Council president Renu Chand who was a panel speaker during the ‘Alternative to Tourism’ plenary session at the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants (FICA) annual congress – 2024.
“Each week, Fiji Airways uplifts 70 tonnes of turmeric, and 70 tonnes of turmeric for an account is a big number. But to put it in context, if you look at the new aircraft, the A350, it’s four aircraft of an A350 with full bellies that make up 70 tonnes of turmeric every week,” Ms Chand said.
“Sixty tonnes of fresh vegetables go to Australia and New Zealand, and five tonnes of powdered kava and I spoke on the great thing that the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica has done, is on bringing back to life the Kava Bill. That is so important.
“And when we talk about just three, these three commodities, they are things that are not seasonal, it is throughout the year so Fiji Airways uplifts this every week throughout the year.
“So my question to everyone is to be challenged in the way we think and change our mindset because we have to look at how we can focus on high yield, high quality and high demand products and I think that was a big thing.”
She said the pricing of turmeric needed to be addressed as well to help farmers diverge from farming only wild turmeric.
“We’re talking about a mega product but what are we doing in terms of the research and development of the pricing structure for our turmeric farmers or the village communities?
“Because at the moment they are just using bush turmeric for export.
“There’s very few farms and for this to happen, we need large-scale farms and we need to have a structure in place.
“Fiji’s turmeric has been proven in the US that the intensity is so high, that it’s useful in a lot more pharmaceutical products so the demand is always going to be there. But what are we doing and what are we doing with working with the village communities?”
Ms Chand said currently, everybody is using middlemen when it comes to the trading of turmeric in Fiji and this could be changed to help the local village communities.
