#FruitFestival2024| The Bula Agro Nursery in Votualevu, Nadi in partnership with the Pacific Island Farmers Organisation Network (PIFON) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways yesterday hosted the first-ever Tropical Fruit Festival to celebrate the rich diversity of fruits available in Fiji and its importance to human health and the national economy.

The festival emphasized the significance of fruits in a nutritious diet and aimed to boost fruit production in Fiji by supporting local farmers and stakeholders.

Mr Sant Kumar, the owner of the nursery, successfully hosted a Tropical Fruit Festival that involved farmers, farmer organizations, stakeholders and Government officials.

Established in 2013, the Bula Agro Nursery specializes in tropical fruits, vegetable seedlings, landscaping plants, and flowers.

The nursery conducts tours for farmer groups and regional workshop field visits, demonstrating hands-on nursery work and exploring different nurseries’ models especially related to climate change, seed production, and seed storage.

The Chief Guest at the festival, Mr. Candra Samekto, Country Director for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was impressed with the variety of high-quality tropical fruits in Fiji and encouraged the younger generation to observe and develop the fruit industry.

“We should organize such events annually for people to come and celebrate, and we should pass down the knowledge to the younger generation so they can understand the importance of tropical fruits,” Mr. Samekto suggested.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways, Principal Research Officer Horticulture, Mr Savenaca Cuquma, highlighted the Ministry’s contribution towards fruit tree industry development in Fiji.

Mr Cuquma said the Ministry, under the Commercial Agriculture Development Program (CADP) and Fruit Orchards Research and Development has so far established over 70 fruit tree orchards around Fiji.

“This initiative started in 2019 and among the 70 fruit tree orchards, some have transformed into successful commercial orchards,” said Mr. Cuquma.

He said the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways under its Research and Development program is collaborating with some of the development partners to develop the fruit industry in Fiji.

“Most fruit trees grow through vegetative propagation, and some countries like Southeast Asia use different methods of vegetative propagation for better production. So we are exploring ways to collaborate with these countries to develop our tropical fruit industry,” said Mr Cuquma.

He said the Ministry will continue to work with the local entrepreneurs, farmers, development partners, and international institutions to develop the fruit industry in Fiji.

He emphasized the importance of orchards for properly organized and systematic fruit production.

“We are creating awareness in villages and settlements to change the mindsets of the farmers to have a more organized and systematic way of growing tropical fruits.”

Mr. Cuquma mentioned some farmers are considering processing fruits in Fiji or adding value, but meeting the demand is imperative.

“Production is the priority, followed by using the surplus for product development. Our team is already researching and developing methods to produce value-added products from some of these important tropical fruits,” mentioned Mr Cuquma.

“We have a plan in place to support farmers and stakeholders with government interventions such as policy support, funding support, and collaboration support to address the entire value chain of the fruit industry in Fiji.”

He said the Green Pearl guava introduced in Fiji in 2017 has become very popular and produces about 50 kg of fruits per year from one plant.

In addition, he said the Research Division is exploring opportunities to increase the diversity of fruits available in the country through working with development partners to introduce new better-performing varieties into the country.

“We have also consulted commercial farmers on strategies for growing the mango and banana industry,” said Mr Cuquma.

He mentioned that quality concerns with Fiji Red papaya in export markets are being addressed by the research team to align with changing market demand and consumer preferences.

Mr Kyle Stice, the Executive Director of Pacific Farmer Organisations, also shared his experience while working with farmers around the Pacific.

Mr Stice said the three major concerns of farmers are the planting materials, information on how to grow a particular fruit and its husbandry practices, and finding markets for their produce.

To meet the needs of farmers in Fiji, Mr. Stice highlighted the necessity of collaboration between nurseries, farmer organizations, the private sector, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways.

He said there is a need to collaborate to make sure that the farmers get access to planting materials.

“It is essential to establish the value chain. Farmers need to see that there is a market for the specific fruit they are planting,” he added.

Mr. Stice said this festival aims to unite farmers and nursery owners to address their challenges collectively, as we shape the future and must work together to make a significant impact for both our present and future generations.

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