THE Agriculture Ministry’s seedling distribution program, an initiative adopted as a form of food security after Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston, is starting to bear fruit.

Ministry’s permanent secretary Jitendra Singh said the ministry was starting to see a reappearance of vegetables and crops that were destroyed by the Category 5 cyclone.

“In terms of food security, our recovery has been quite good,” he said.

“We were well supported by different governments at that point in time from the work that was done in the aftermath of Winston, especially the distribution of seeds and seedlings while food was being delivered to affected areas.

“It was the natural response from Government to support people’s livelihoods.

“The ministry’s efforts in distributing seed and seedlings were to allow these communities to have access to food well after three or four months after the cyclone.

“That seedling distribution program was highly successful in that regard.”

Mr Singh said despite a few setbacks late last year, the ministry had managed to help affected farmers restore destroyed farms.

“Of course we may recall we had a couple of wet weather last year and that hampered our efforts.

“But overall we are starting to see fruits and vegetables reappearing within three to four months.”

Mr Singh was in Nadi yesterday for the first-ever annual Pacific Food Security Cluster meeting at the Radisson Blu Resort in Denarau.