COVID-19 has created a renewed interest in agriculture which in some way — a welcomed development.
We wake up each day with dismay to more shocking news and we know it is going to be hard slog ahead.
Job losses and business closures as a direct result of border closures, lockdowns, containment and COVID-safe measures have changed the mindset of many.
Some jobs have lost their lustre and are perceived to be no longer safe even if they do come back. The emerging mindset is that whatever job one secures, farming is a must; to supplement income, provide food security or as the fallback in the event of job losses.
There is the return to the land or as we say in the iTaukei vernacular, ‘lesu kina qele’ or “back to the soil”.
Land is always there – it is solid, and it is safe.
This phenomenon is happening in a big way with the iTaukei in their villages, albeit on the traditional subsistence basis.
Unfortunately, this model does not suit the hierarchy in the Ministry of Agriculture as their masters, the FijiFirst Government, do not have a vision to develop the villagers farm on traditional land. And therein lies the challenge.
Subsistence farming is on the periphery of iTaukei villages; reserve land with no formal ownership, but on plots that have been farmed by families for generations.
No one can challenge the ownership of a plot; it has been passed down in a traditional manner and will always belong to the family that farms it.
They are not big and are generally regarded as gardens and not farms. The focus is on food security for the family and not much else, thus the small scale.
Those on this land are not even regarded as small-scale farmers as they do not farm for commercial purposes. It is doubtful if anyone in the Agriculture Ministry, or Government for that matter, has any interest in what they do.
As we look to agriculture to make the difference for Fiji post-pandemic, we are only looking to the commercial farmers with sizeable land which is formally owned.
Factors of production
Government is neglecting the iTaukei villages, approximately 1200 in all, and their subsistence farms. In the villages are people (labour) and land, two critical factors of production which should indicate the vast potential that lies untapped.
Government needs to realise that farming has already been happening for generations; however, intervention is needed to make subsistence farms produce more.
The land is available, so is soil good and with good husbandry production can increase Fiji’s yield significantly. This is where Government intervention is needed.
A good illustration of the renewed drive to farm is in the tikina (district) of Sigatoka in Nadroga, which I had highlighted in Parliament, where two tractors, privately owned, are fully engaged tilling the land for the seven villages of the district.
They are going back to farming in a big way, most of it on land where subsistence farming has thrived for generations.
What is needed is a digger to complement the two tractors and a bulldozer in those areas where land clearing is required. There are provisions for this in the Government budgets and the equipment is available, but on an erratic basis.
In Tailevu, some ginger farmers would go through the channels with the ministry to secure a tractor to prepare the land, but the delay would be such that the tractor arrives when others are already harvesting their crop.
This is simple incompetence on the part of Government and not only with ginger farmers.
The Minister for Agriculture proudly announced in Parliament that output in non-sugar agriculture was $600 million last year. I challenged him, asking, why not $1 billion?
When it was put to him that he was neglecting the subsistence farmers in the villages, he replied that they tried an initiative, but the uptake was poor.
It seemed that Government has pretty much left it at that, which is quite disappointing and not altogether surprising knowing the poor attitude of the Government.
It is a fact, which I have also highlighted in Parliament that lots of hand-holding is required if we want our subsistence farmers to produce and produce consistently. The present support system is very poor.
In Nadroga/Navosa farmers have to go to the Agricultural Station at Nacocolevu in the Valley Rd if they want anything from the Department. This is very difficult for them.
These issues and the challenges are coming to the fore, not only in Nadroga/Navosa, but in all the 14 provinces with people venting their frustrations over how difficult it is to engage with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Support system
I have always highlighted the support system with FSC we should emulate, and I keep harping on this each time we debate the sorry state of agriculture in Parliament.
Each time the sorry state of agriculture is debated in Parliament, I have always highlighted the support system with Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) which should be emulated.
FSC has an overseer with other fully equipped support staff , located in the farming districts for every 600 farmers.
I have also talked about combining SRIF (Sugar Research Institute, Fiji) with the research arms of agriculture and to come under one of our universities. Research must be strengthened for yield to improve.
And we should grow our own agricultural scientists to do that. Yield is all important and research can secure it.
I know that some people get too territorial and do not want to lose control of SRIF, but COVID-19 is
forcing us to change our mindset for agriculture to truly flourish.
Indeed, if the 13,000 active cane farmers take on intercropping seriously, production in non-sugar agriculture would be boosted significantly.
Already SRIF is helping on research with inter-cropping. Extending it to non-sugar areas such as the subsistence farms would be a natural extension of their role.
Today, both sugar and agriculture make up less than 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is quite tragic. We should go for 30 per cent of GDP to say that agriculture truly matters.
It can be done, and one way is to harness productivity in the villages, maximising yield on their generations-old subsistence model of farming.
Land is available without the complex process of formally securing it and indeed the Fiji Development Bank has a facility to lend to farmers without title to their land, but on which they have farmed for some period.
Government should snap out of their lack of vision for the subsistence farming model.
They should not try to re-invent the wheel, as they are known to do with their ‘know it all’ attitude, but capitalise on the villagers yearn to farm, and support them to do it the way they know best.
As I write, news is at hand that COVID-19 has flared up in a part of Sydney, Australia and one million people are on lockdown.
It was brought about by a limousine driver who refused to be vaccinated carrying a passenger from abroad infected with COVID-19.
This tells us on one part that everyone should be vaccinated; and on the other hand that the tourism revival will be pushed back further, strengthening the case for more farming.
- VILIAME GAVOKA is the leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party. The views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.
