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 cropland, 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 10.3% of GDP.
In 2022, exports of crops and livestock, which accounted for 23.2 percent of the total domestic export earnings, increased by 7.8 percent. Growth was also recorded for both value and volume of only fresh/chilled produce domestically exported by 4.9 percent and 18.3 percent respectively in 2022 as compared to 2021. The export of fresh/chilled produce accounted for 9.3 percent of the national domestic export earnings. Fiji recorded continuous growth in 2022 by exporting FJD 318.5 million of fresh/chilled produce (crop and livestock) compared to the previous years.

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 imported FJ$50.8 million of rice in 2022 to meet domestic consumption.
  • Fiji’s dairy production averages from 11-18 million litres annually compared to domestic demand of 80 million litres.
  • Fiji produces an average of 3,000 tonnes of fresh/ chilled beef and imports an average of 2,600 of fresh/chilled beef annually.
  • Tax exemption is offered for new commercial agricultural farming and agro-processing.

Last Updated: August 2023