The Research Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways is currently conducting training on Plant and Soil Health Clinic at Koronivia Research Station.

Nine staff of the Ministry from the Eastern Division, along with one participant from the Pacific Community (SPC) and one from the Fiji National University (FNU) are attending this training, which will be the last of this financial year.

While officiating at the one-week training on Monday, the Head of Agriculture Research, Shalendra Prasad said that pests and diseases are one of the major problems of agricultural production, having the ability to affect 60 to 70 per cent of crop yields if not taken care of.

He stated the Ministry with assistance from the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji has appointed some temporary biosecurity officers to play a significant role in preventing the entry of unwanted pests and diseases into the islands.

“It is important for you to learn how to diagnose the pests and diseases and their management practices in order to correctly advice our farmers,” said Prasad.

He encouraged the extension officers to go back and train the farmers and hold plant health clinics within the localities so farmers can bring their produce for identification of the pest and diseases and provide advice on their control measures.

He said the plan for the upcoming financial year is to reduce the number of training and promote farmer-to-staff interaction by arranging more plant health clinics within the farming communities.

“The Plant Protection team can provide help if you need it, but we encourage you to take the lead role in conducting the PHC in your localities,” he said.

“This year, we’ve included soil health as a part of the training, with the Chemistry Laboratory staff training participants on soil sampling, result interpretation, and fertilizer calculations,” said Prasad.

According to Prasad, after the training, the staff should educate farmers on maintaining soil fertility and good plant health for better yields.

He advised the participants to interact with the facilitators and discuss the issues that needed the attention of the Research officers in our maritime zones.

The training aimed to diagnose plant pests and diseases and provide remedies for crop husbandry and pest management.

They will conduct a Plant Health Clinic on Thursday and invite farmers to bring in sick plants for diagnosis. The training participants will provide reliable management practices to address the issues.