Riya Bhagwan 
Fiji is looking to strengthen cooperatives to help rural producers access bigger markets and create more income in their communities.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica says cooperatives can help address the lack of economic opportunities that is driving people from rural areas to urban centres.
He says stronger cooperatives can connect producers with markets while allowing them to benefit more from the value of their products.
He made the comments while opening the Strengthening Pacific Cooperatives through Education, Training and Regional Cooperation Workshop in Nadi this morning.
“The future for the cooperative movement in the Pacific, in my view, is potential, and it’s very exciting.”
Kamikamica says Fiji is already seeing export opportunities through cooperatives, including cow feed exports to New Zealand and planned root crop exports to Nauru.
He says greater cooperation across the Pacific could allow countries to pool their commodities and meet larger overseas orders that individual producers may struggle to supply.
Kamikamica says this could also reduce the role of middlemen and allow producers to receive a greater share of the final value of their products.
He says industries such as kava, cocoa, coffee and sugar could benefit from this approach.
The Government believes stronger cooperatives, together with micro, small and medium enterprises, could make rural communities more economically viable and help reduce rural-to-urban migration.
The workshop brings Pacific stakeholders together to strengthen cooperative development through education, training and regional cooperation.
