Praneeta Prakash 
The Ministry of Agriculture has announced its intentions to bolster extension services by recruiting additional staff.
The officer in charge of crop development and extension services at the Ministry highlighted the pressing need for more personnel to effectively serve the growing population of farmers.
Sowane Ramudu says the current farmer-to-staff ratio presents a considerable challenge to adequately providing support and guidance to the agricultural community.
“There are a total of 98,000 farmers that are around Fiji, and only 255 officers are available. With that mentioned, we totally need a critical number of technical staff to be recruited out there in the field to be able to assist our farmers in terms of all the advisory services that we do provide.”
Head of Human Resources Development, Isikeli Bosevakaturaga, has assured that there are plans to recruit more staff.
“That’s basically part of the recruitment plan. It’s also part of our ministry’s realignment that we need to identify stations that require additional support because of the growing number of farmers to help with agriculture extension services in our communities.”
He adds that, with the agricultural sector being a vital contributor to the nation’s economy, the need for comprehensive and accessible extension services has become more evident.
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