Permanent Secretary David Kolitagane

The Agriculture Ministry is encouraging the Bio-Security Authority of Fiji to visit the farms in New Zealand and Australia.

This is to test animals before importing them into the country.

Permanent Secretary David Kolitagane says New Zealand and Australia also have brucellosis and tuberculosis in their animals which needs to be tested before bringing them to Fiji.

Kolitagane says the Ministry is working with some of the farmers in New Zealand to ensure their animals are disease-free.

“There is also disease out there in Australia and New Zealand. We cannot import from there but we are trying to establish a pathway with BAF to import disease-free animals.”

Kolitagane says the Ministry with BAF is also working to establish the import protocol for disease-free animals.