The Agriculture Ministry does not have specific budget allocations for farm irrigation systems, says its line minister Dr Mahendra Reddy.
Dr Reddy made the remarks in response to a Nadarivatu villager who had requested the ministry’s assistance in setting up irrigation systems on their farms.
Iliavi Masori had requested for irrigation pumps to assist farmers particularly those whose farms were far away from the rivers.
While welcoming the Nubu Farms Initiative, he said it would be of great help if farmers were also provided with irrigation pumps to assist them in piloting the carrot and celery farms.
“At the moment we do not have a specific budget for that but I would suggest let’s see how you start off this new venture and in the next budget we can see how we can provide a pump and some piping for the entire cluster,” Dr Reddy said.
“This could then be shared among farmers.
“There are six pumps here which belong to the Agriculture Station that you can borrow at no cost.”
Dr Reddy also urged the 42 farmers now contracted to the Fiji Agro Marketing Authority to use the assistance rendered by the ministry in ensuring the three-year project was a success.
