Fijians should not entirely depend on the Social Welfare Ministry’s poverty benefit scheme but also look for other sources of income.

This comes after the ministry received some complains from recipients of this particular scheme, saying it’s not enough to meet the needs of their household.

The Ministry’s Director, Rupeni Fatiaki says the objective of the scheme is to encourage people to explore other income opportunities.

“Government will assist but we encourage them to look for other means of income and so that’s why we have the other programme which is the income generating programme where we can assist the households if they are willing to take part or involve themselves in income generating projects.”

Fatiaki says the maximum assistance allocated for recipients is $175 which includes food vouchers.

There is currently twenty-five thousand recipients being assisted through this scheme.