The Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (FAREI) was officially launched by the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security and Attorney-General, SatishFaugoo, on September 2, 2014 in Réduit.
In his opening statement, he said that, “In order to sustain progress and achievement, institutions cannot do business as usual. They have to innovate and revisit their work culture. The institutions have to become more efficient, more effective and more responsive to the needs of farmers.”
Minister Faugoo also underlined that the establishment of FAREI is one of the several reform measures taken by the ministry in line with the measures enunciated in the Government Programme.
“The aim of this reform is to attain higher operational efficiency of the institutions, better service delivery, reduced operational costs and higher cost effectiveness,” he said.
FAREI will be able to position itself as a Research and Development centre of excellence in non-sugar agriculture.
Furthermore, “it has an impressive quality of technical manpower and it will fulfil expectations at the national, regional and international levels, at this particular time when food security is high on the agenda of all governments,” Minister Faugoo pointed out.
The Minister of Agro-Industry said that Government is fully conscious that there is a need for a strong agricultural research and extension institute to face the emerging challenges related to food security and the expectations of farming community.
He also expressed his confidence that FAREI will meet the forthcoming challenges as it has been established to take over the functions and powers of the Food and Agricultural Research Council, including its Agricultural Research and Extension Unit. This has been done with a view to improve efficiency through substantial costs savings.
Image: FAREI will be able to position itself as a Research and Development centre of excellence in non-sugar agriculture.
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