Women in rural areas are being encouraged to turn everyday village resources into profitable businesses instead of relying on imported products.
Social Protection Minister Sashi Kiran said many communities were overlooking the economic value of the natural foods and materials around them.
Ms Kiran said traditional foods such as cassava, breadfruit and coconut were now in high demand internationally.
“We sometimes ignore the value of what we already have,” she said.
“Breadfruit may be rotting in the village, but we go and buy potatoes from the shop.”
She said during a food exhibition in Australia, she discovered strong demand for products such as cassava flour, coconut flour and breadfruit flour.
“The coconut residue we usually feed to pigs after squeezing the milk can actually be dried and ground into flour.
“In international markets that flour can sell for around $12 per kilogram.”
She said Fiji also needed to rethink the way it produced and presented food products.
“In towns you see roadside stalls selling roti parcels and barbecue. But simple foods like kai can also become a business opportunity.
“If you prepare them nicely with coconut cream, you can sell a small portion for the same price as a large heap.”
She said many women were already operating micro-businesses in the informal sector, and the number of women entrepreneurs had increased in recent years.
She said however communities needed to move beyond basic production and develop products that could compete in the tourism and export markets.
