THE MINISTER FOR YOUTH AND SPORTS
HONOURABLE PARVEEN KUMAR BALA
Monday 5th October, 2020 at 11:00AM
Tavualevu village, Ba
• Masters of Ceremony
• Village Elders
• Tavua District Officer
• Chairman of the Tavua District Advisory Council
• Members of the Advisory Councils
• Church Leaders
• Youth members
• My Ministry staff
• Members of the media
• Ladies and Gentlemen
Bula Vinaka and a very good-day to you all,
As usual, I am delighted to be here with you all to officially handover the assistance under the Youth Farm Initiative to the five youth clubs here with us today. At the outset, I wish to thank the village elders for a kind welcome and would like to say vinaka-vakalevu!
We are also here to listen to the progress of your projects and support the 209 youths for this youth farm initiative rather than just making loose talks like some politicians have been doing recently.
The FijiFirst government will continue to empower our youths.
I’m also told that these youths did their own fundraising drives to kick-start their farming a few months ago, this is commendable so could we all have a round of applause for them please.
Today I am very pleased to handover to these well-deserved youths; farming tools such as spades, forks, a greenhouse and seedlings just to name a few. This will all add value to what you are already doing with your farms.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this year we celebrate more than a halfcentury of Fijian independence; we celebrate the resilience of our young people to overcome challenges of any scale, as our 50th anniversary of independence has arrived alongside the global COVID-19 pandemic. I urge our youths to learn new skills and continue to upgrade yourselves because that is what is required in these changing times. I would also like to acknowledge the landowners, they play a vital role in providing consent to these youth clubs to utilise the land for farming.
The materials and seedlings that I will handover today will assist these youths involved in farming for family food security, improve livelihood in the community, create employment opportunities, improve the youth and community bond, and most importantly it will deter the youths from engaging in unlawful activities and of course serve as a source of income.
My Ministry is happy to be part of your community development. I wish to encourage all young Fijians to take a pro-active approach in dealing with any of your current circumstances---especially during this pandemic.
Since the Ministry of Youth and Sports launched these youth farm projects two months ago, we have seen huge success throughout the country. This process has involved the utilization of vacant land in rural areas for families. Our youths are realizing the value of the land, rivers and sea as the foundation for their lives and therefore be used as an income generator for our youths to meet their needs.
Above all, this has also been a success through the active participation of our youth groups. The Fijian Government has given them the confidence in the roll-out of grants for their initiatives in their local area. My ministry wishes to encourage youth clubs to utilise unused land for agricultural purposes.
Finally ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to extend my appreciation and acknowledgement of other stakeholders who have provided seedlings to help these youths as well.
We have a Youth Officer, who is stationed at our Ba office, where major focus is to identify and support youth needs and create awareness regarding the ministry’s programs and activities .So please, do visit them.
With these few words I now launch the Tavua Youth Club Farming Project.
Vinaka-vakalevu !!!