Fiji still imports around $99million worth of dairy products.

Assistant Minister for Agriculture Tomasi Tunabuna revealed this in parliament as he delivered his contribution in support of the 2023-2024 national budget that was passed last week.

He said the annual demand for liquid milk was 24 million litres and Fiji was producing only 29 per cent (6.96million litres) of the milk in the formal sector.

He added that was worsened by poor genetics, old infrastructure and poor hygiene and nutrition in local dairy farms.

“This is a disaster, and the dairy industry is on the verge of collapsing,” Mr Tunabuna said.

However, he said the ministry had begun to review the entire dairy industry; and an allocation of $5.5million set aside for the dairy program – the highest budget ever allocated for the dairy industry.

The minister noted a budget of $800,000 on milk price incentive – a top up of $0.18 cents for every litre produced by all registered dairy farmers in the country.

“This is a relief, but far from solving the rise in the production cost.

“The farm gate price of milk was not formulated by the consultant when the review and restructure of the dairy industry was done more than 12 years back and it has not been completed.”

Mr Tunabuna also noted that the national budget had a $2million allocation for the importation of genetic material for the dairy sector, which he said would have a significant impact on the dairy industry.

“This is a very crucial intervention for the industry that had suffered badly from the losses of good breeds of cattle due to Bovine Tuberculosis and Brucellosis re-emergence in 2014.

“Apart from the ongoing works, the Government will be assisting farmers with the supply of supplementary feed on a one-third and two-third basis.

“Under the Dairy Extension Program, activities such as improvement to dairy access farm roads and milking sheds improvements and smallholder farms development will motivate the farmers to increase their milk production.”