June 2020, Pacific

When Fiji confirmed its first COVID-19 case in March, the lockdown that followed in two of the country’s major trading centers was instant, immediately affecting farmers nationwide.

“We’ve lost approximately 80% of our sales and business, the bulk of our produce was left to rot in the farm,” says William Lee, managing director of Lee’s Farm & Micro Organix.

“We’ve had to review the existing delivery channels with many farmers taking their produce directly to the market because of distribution issues.”

“Farmers are the key to food security during these hard times and not the supermarkets, government must ensure that farmers are supported.”

With a population of 900,000 the Fiji government declared the country free of coronavirus on Friday 5 June – for now – after all 18 people who tested positive recovered.

Lee says the impacts of the global pandemic will leave many businesses including farmers in the Pacific struggling.