Agriculture

Agriculture has an immense potential in Fiji, our virgin soils and tropical climatic conditions allow for myriad of opportunities, targeting the domestic, local hotel industry and export markets.

Fiji has approximately 497,787 hectares or 28% of land available for agricultural purposes. Agricultural land use is broken down into temporary crop land, fallow land, permanent crop land, pastures, coconuts, natural forest, planted forest and non-agricultural land. The highest percentage of actual land use (37%) is for permanent crops followed by pastures (19%) and natural forest (17%).

The crop sub-sector is mainly driven by the root crops and horticulture industry. The major commodities are taro, ginger, papaya, pineapples and Bilateral Quarantine Agreement (BQA) commodities such as eggplant, okra and breadfruit. Taro and cassava are the most planted root crops with taro geared mainly for the export market. The livestock subsector is dominated by beef and dairy production.

Fiji has existing trade agreements and favourable quarantine arrangements that allow the trade of agricultural produce with countries such as Australia, NZ, US, Europe, Canada, China and neighbouring Pacific Island countries. The domestic market, particularly the tourism industry, offers the biggest opportunity for expansion in the agricultural sector. Agriculture contributes 8% of GDP.

To meet the growing demand, the majority of tourism operators are importing fruits and vegetables from Australia and New Zealand as local producers are unable to supply the required quantity and quality of such commodities. Volatility in production levels and inconsistency in quality have also hindered the development of value-adding industries in the country. This has resulted in increased reliance on imported raw materials.

The Value of Crop and Livestock domestic export for both fresh/chilled and value added product has increased significantly from $146.23 million in 2009 to $195.02 million in 2016 with a 4.8% average annual growth rate. Fiji’s current value of import of Crop and Livestock is $646.02 million and is increasing at an annual average rate of 5.6%.

OPPORTUNITIES

Up to 497,787 hectares of land suitable for agriculture.
Opportunities for foreign investors to lease or buy land.
Very low entry cost in agriculture business when compared to other countries.
Landholders willing to engage investors or develop partnership arrangements.
Potential development projects including organized systems of producing, processing, and marketing crops, livestock, and aquaculture products.
Cultivation of a variety of vegetables primarily eggplant, okra, rourou (taro leaves), cabbage, bean, pumpkin, tomato, capsicum, and amaranthus.
Pawpaw, pineapple, and banana are considered as the major fruit commodities in Fiji.
Fiji imports an average of close to 34,000 tons of rice annually to meet domestic consumption.
Fiji’s dairy production averages from 11-18 million litres annually compared to domestic demand of 80 million litres.
Fiji is producing an average of 2,495 tons of fresh/ chilled beef and importing an average of 2,290 tons of fresh/chilled beef and 250 tons of prepared meat (corned beef) annually.
Our 884,887 residents and nearly 800,000 tourists create a lucrative domestic market of over 1.6 million people.
Tax exemption is offered for new commercial agricultural farming and agro-processing.
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