Caption:Sitting (L-R) Acting PS Agriculture Mr Uraia Waibuta, Minister for Agriculture.Photo:SUPPLIED.
Rural transformation through the agriculture sector is one of the top priorities for the Ministry of Agriculture this year.The Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Inia Seruiratu, made the comment as he launched the Ministry’s 2015 Annual Corporate Plan in Suva this week.He said transforming rural Fiji this year will be through aggressive agriculture transformation through all divisions across the country.
Minister Seruiratu added that through the ACP 2015, the Ministry will be embarking on rural transformation through an integrated approach with other Ministries like Education, Social Welfare and Women, Youth and Sports, Health, Labour & Employment and Trade and Investment.
“The ACP gives the sense of direction required and ensures that all our efforts are geared towards the ultimate goal envisioned,” he said.
The Annual Corporate Plan 2015, he said, is an inclusive document that embraces changes at the global level as well as that of the national strategic priority goals and key development targets that are set by the Fijian Government for the agricultural sector.
“The agriculture sector plays a vital role in Fiji’s economy as it touches on the very lives of our rural and maritime people who are often regarded as poor and marginalised.”
Minister Seruiratu said the ACP also brings into perspective the Fiji 2020 Agriculture Sector Policy Agenda, which focused on modernising agriculture and is regarded as the guiding document to this yearly plan.
“The Ministry of Agriculture this year will be embarking on a number of ambitious activities as outlined in the ACP and is aimed at lifting the Agricultural Sector to another level”, he added.
To realise this, the Minister said that all staff at the Ministry must develop a more coordinated and coherent approach that ensures all programs is delivered on time with all the necessary paper work diligently done.
“I am optimistic that through the implementation of this planning tool, we should be able to accomplish our corporate goals by the end of the year and build a better foundation into the future,” he said.
DEPTFO