Water Thank you. Wonderful. [music] [music] might Hallelujah. [singing] Glory mighty [singing] God. [singing] Go. Hallelujah. to our development partners, farmers and exhibitors, researchers, agri business operators, students and teachers. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm a very good morning to you all. looking at the uh program. I believe there's going to be some uh copper cutting and new excavations this morning. Looking at my palm and the sky is [clears throat] still very clear. We pay our respects to the chiefs of sit today and we [clears throat] pay our respect to their leaders, President strength as well as emerging as we acknowledge their enduring role in the war and we remain grateful for their custodianship which has allowed us [clears throat] to be here today and for some generations to enjoy their hospitality. It's a great pleasure of me [clears throat] to be here to open the 2026 National Agriculture Show and to launch 3G national covenant day celebrations. Looking at the coconut in front of us, I also remember my days at Queen Victoria School in my last year. I couldn't go to my mother was staying about to be divorced. I couldn't go and uh add to the burden or relative insight. So I asked the principal to uh keep you occupied in school during the term holidays. So he called up our manager and asked how can we employ for two weeks and then another two weeks in August CPN. BNB [clears throat] uh coconut >> [clears throat] >> Let go. [clears throat] research in agriculture. But today we celebrate our farmers, our agricultural communities and everyone contributing to the development [clears throat] of Fiji's agricultural sector. The show is about more than agriculture as we heard from the honorable minister. It's about Fiji's economic future. It is fitting that we gather here in Nebraska to have on's agricultural economy. The more the more enormous potential to even produce more than we are doing at this time. We're also in a position to process more, export more, and to create great opportunities for our people. The theme for this year's show is green growth, golden gain, advancing agriculture through innovation, diversification, very addition for a resilient and prosperous FG is being captured. What we must achieve, we must produce more produce better. [clears throat] We must produce more products, produce better products, produce consistently [clears throat] and use our land properly, our water, our labor, our technology and add capital. You must use all those more productivity [clears throat] productively, reduce waste, improve quality, add value and connect our form farmers well to reliable markets. The future of agriculture cannot be based only on increasing the volume of what we produce. It must be based on higher productivity, stronger businesses, better technology, greater value addition and improve returns for our farmers. This is how agriculture can make a much greater contribution to Fiji's economic transformation. Our ambition is to lift these economic growth towards a 6% economy by high income economy by 2050. That is by achieving 6% growth and build on that foundation to achieve that objective of becoming a high income economy by 2050. And I believe it can be done. That was God's intention as we heard today in Genesis right in the chap chapter. He wants the earth will live on to be productive. Agriculture has an important role in helping us achieve that ambition. [clears throat] Agriculture is not a sector on the margins of our economy. It is central to our food security, rural livelihoods, employment, exports, import substitution and national resilience. Agriculture reported contribution to real GDP has [clears throat] increased from approximately 6.5% in 2014 to 2 to 12.8 8% in 2024 [clears throat] in 10 years. That demonstrates the growing importance of a sector to 3G economy. Agriculture must therefore move from being primarily a producer of rural commodities to becoming a stronger commercial very adding and export oriented sector. This means increasing yields, improving farm management, reducing post losses, better storage, processing, packaging and logistics and stronger market information and access and access to finance and producing to the standards required by both the domestic as well as The international market productivity must become a central measure of progress. The question should not only be how much land we cultivate or how many crops we produce. We should also ask how much value we create from each hector, each worker, each investment and each unit of water and other resources that we use. Higher productivity will raise farm incomes, strengthen rural businesses, improve our competitiveness and create the economic space needed for further investment. Look at the Old Testament. See how much producers, farmers, livestock farmers enjoyed in society. Read the book of Job. He was the wealthiest man. a table of diamond and gold and silver, but in terms of her that he kept today. We also celebrate coconut day. widely known as the tree of life provide food, income, materials and livelihoods for communities across Fiji. The first uh Israeli America who came here to Fiji had a driver who was a soldier. The soldier went to meet him in uh 90 and uh as they drove off the uh ambassador said to uh his driver tell me what's new. He said coconut coconut. No, he said what's new? Yes. New is coconut. Bangladesh [clears throat] more than 61,500 land are used for coconut culture or had coconut grow in them [clears throat] with the northern and eastern divisions accounting for a significant share of production. Yet we face a major challenge. Appro approximately half of Indy's cockpit plantation covering more than 30,000 hectare are considered senile like me [clears throat] and require rehabilitation or replanting. This is the challenge but it's [clears throat] also an economic opportunity. It can be used I came here with a project or a proposal and the government just shoved it aside. Even when I came in, I I asked for a file and it wasn't there. It was going to change the uh coconut industry and move it more towards a an extra virgin oil production. We had the markets, we had the buyers, we had everything. We even had the machinery to come here and clear the other roads in the whole coconut groves. Government didn't want to look at it. [clears throat] I'm looking for a file now. No longer there. We have to re rehabilitate our plantations so that they can increase [clears throat] their productivity to strengthen household incomes and to provide a more reliable supply of raw materials for local processing and exports. The government is establishing government nurseries across all four and cultural divisions and strengthening the capacity of technical office. This distribution of seedling is expected to begin early in 2027 but government cannot deliver this transformation alone. Conor rehab must be a partnership between farmers, land owners, communities, government researchers, financial institutions, development partners and the private sector. Our ambition must go beyond producing more coconuts. We must build a modern coconut industry that create more value for every coconut produced. This means stronger processing, better products, improved branding, reliable quality and access to higher value workers. I was in uh when I lost my job when I was out of parliament and then central chiefs. I was president of uh coconut oil producers cop one cops of Samo and uh C O P and G P and G but then our program for PG did not work not allowed to even start and now we should encourage investment in coconut oil virgin coconut oil through products cosmetic fiber, charcoal and other commercially viable viable products where appropriate. We should also promote intercropping and integrated environment. We should not continue to rely on the carbon carbon nation oil prices that are given out to the world. We must diversify our produce. Diversification gives farmers more than one source of income. It also makes farming systems more resilient to market and climate shocks. Our objective should be clear. Move from raw production to value creation. That is where greater income and greater economic contribution will come. Food security is an essential part of national security. Global disruptions, climate events, conflicts in supply chain pressures can quickly affect the availability and the price of food as we have recently and are still experiencing. PG cannot produce everything that we consume. But where we have the land, the knowledge, the farmers and resources to produce competitively, we must strengthen domestic production. Reducing avoidable food import keeps more money within PG. It create market for farmers, support rural businesses and strengthen our activities. At the same time, food security and agricultural exports must not be treated as a competing object. A productive sector can feed our people and supply competitive products to regional and international markets. Our goal must be to produce more food, better quality products and greater economic value. [clears throat] Government has an important role but government cannot transform agriculture on its own. The transformation we seek requires a stronger partnership between government, the farmers, land owners, businesses, financial [clears throat] institutions, researchers, universities, development partners and communities. Development sector, the private sector must play a greater role in investment in processing in technology, in logistics, market development and export growth. The government role is to create the right condition working with clear policies, appropriate infrastructure, effective regulation, research, extensive services and access to opportunity. Development partners can help us build capacity and introduce new technologies. Financial institutions can develop products that respond to the realities of farming and researchers can help farmers improve productivity. [clears throat] We must move towards stronger agricultural value chain where farmers are not simply suppliers of raw materials but active participants in value creation. We must also recognize the important contribution of women to farming, to food production, processing, marketing and rural enterprises. Women must have incredible access to finance, technology, training, land use, opportunity, and markets. Our young people must also see agriculture as an industry of the future. [clears throat] or agriculture requires science, engineering, technology, digital skills, business management, marketing and entrepreneurship. We need young Christians not only to farm, but also to become researchers, economists, technicians, processes, exporters, innovators and agricultural entrepreneurs. This is essential for renewing [clears throat] the sector and creating productive employment in all our rural economies and culture also has a very important role in improving the health and productivity of our people. We continue to face a serious burden of non-communicable diseases with significant social and economic costs. and the culture can be part of a solution. Increasing the availability and affordability of locally produced fruits, vegetables, fruit crops, and other nutritious foods can support healthier diets while creating stronger markets for farmers. A healthier population [clears throat] is also a more productive population. This means agriculture contributes not only to food security and economic growth but also to the quality of life and productivity [clears throat] of our workforce. We must also recognize the growing impact of climate variability and climate change on agriculture. Current forecast indicate the possibility of dry conditions through the end to the end of 2026 and to the early 2027. As we brace continue to brace for Elino, we must know that Latina to balance everything out. So let's be prepared. ground to resilience must become part of normal agricultural planning. The north has land. We have natural resources with farmer communities and an emerging base for investment and enterprise. We must create a condition for these assets to generate greater economic value. Ladies and gentlemen, CD6% growth aspiration [clears throat] cannot be achieved by government alone. It requires a whole of economy effort. Every farmer who improves productivity contributes. Every business that invests in protesting contributes. Every single researcher who develops a better planning method contributes. Every young person who chooses agriculture and builds a successful enterprise contributes. Every development partner that helps us strengthen our productive capacity contributes. This is the partnership that we need. We must move from a model where government is expected to provide everything to one where government creates the enabling environment and the farmers continal communities and businesses become stronger drivers of investment, productivity and growth. Ladies and gentlemen, today we celebrate our farmers, our agricultural communities and natural resources that sustain our nation. We must also look ahead. The next phase of agriculture must be defined by productivity, innovation, diversification, valuation, investment and strong partnership. Let us use this national agriculture show to connect ideas with investment, research with production, farmers with markets, and government with the private sector and our communities. Let us build an agricultural sector that produces nutritious food for our people, that creates profitable businesses, [clears throat] generate decent livelihood and compete successfully in regional and international markets. Let us also ensure that the growth of agriculture contribute directly to our national ambition of achieving sustain the sustained 6% economic growth and position Fiji as a high income economy by 2015. Going back to the Old Testament, the next book after Genesis, as Moses [clears throat] set off on that journey that eventually took 40 years to complete, [clears throat] he came across the first mountain, a sea. He looked up. How am I going to cross this sea? God said, What do you have? This my walking stick. Use that. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Heat up here. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music]