The number of farmers across Fiji is declining, and young people are showing little to no interest in taking up farming.
This was revealed by Minister for Agriculture and Waterways Tomasi Tunabuna, who described the trend as a growing social issue the ministry recently identified.
Speaking to the media during World Food Day celebrations, Mr Tunabuna said farming was increasingly viewed as a “last option”, raising concerns about the future of local food production and the sustainability of the agriculture sector.
“We now have areas of concern where people view farming as the last option,” he said.
“We are seeing a decline. It may not be very much on food shortage, but it’s a challenge when it comes to food availability and quality labour.”
Mr Tunabuna said Fiji’s food availability depended not only on local production but also on imported goods, and the lack of skilled workers in agriculture was affecting the country’s ability to sustain itself.
“The current situation we have in Fiji is the availability to get quality labour to address the supply of food locally.
“For us agriculturalists, we believe that we can easily provide our local population with quality and affordable food.”
He added that the ageing farmer population posed a long-term risk to food security, as fewer young people are entering the sector despite government training efforts.
“Fiji is facing a lot of problems in that area, we need to train our young farmers to replace the old farmers.
“Even though we’ve made efforts to train young people to become commercial farmers, we’re still addressing issues around people’s perception of farming as a reliable source of income.”
Mr Tunabuna said improving productivity, exploring crop diversification and promoting collective farming could help address the challenges facing the sector, including high costs, labour shortages and land lease concerns.
