Losing skilled meat workers to employment overseas is a challenge for the Meat and Industries Board.

Losing skilled meat workers to employment overseas is a challenge for the Meat and Industries Board.

Chief Executive Vimal Chand says they are now having difficulty training more people to assist in the operations of the two abattoirs.

Chand says abattoirs don’t have an appealing working environment and finding willing workers is a challenge.

“Now with lots of workers migrating for greener pastures especially New Zealand and Australia. In the meat sector, the challenge for us is to train workers because we need specialized workers, who do slaughter, who do skinning and also do bone out and especially cuts. For our workers, the work on the slaughter floor for three to four days and then we have our feed plant, they also work in the feed plan”

Chand says they need manpower to slaughter cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs from livestock farmers.

The Fiji Meats and Industries Board slaughter 8,000 cattle, 13,000 pigs, and over a thousand sheep and goats annually for the local market.