Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture, Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan has conducted fruitful visits to Kaashidhoo island of Kaafu atoll and Thoddoo island in Alif Alif atoll.

The minister conducted the visit to two of the top islands in the country’s agricultural sector and toured the fields as well and met councils of the respective islands, where discussions were held on a range of topics.

Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan’s visit to Kaashidhoo came upon the invitation of the island council’s president, to engage in discussions regarding the island council’s initiative to expand their agricultural initiatives to modern agriculture.

His visit to Thoddoo was to exchange ideas and engage in discussions regarding the initiative to resolve the challenges facing the island’s water facility.

Project Consultant of the Accelerating Sustainable System Development Using Renewable Energy (ASSURE) initiative of the ministry, Dr. Ahmed Shukuree also accompanied the Minister on the visits .

The fisheries minister visited the agricultural fields in both islands to witness the damages caused by squally weather conditions, and discussed the importance of taking precautionary measures

Further, the minister also sat down with the Kaashidhoo farmers, where they held extensive discussions on the challenges facing the farmers. During the meeting, the minister stressed on the importance of introducing modern technologies to agriculture in order to avoid damages to farms. He also shed light on the significance of farm produce that have a higher market value.

The farmers were assured that the ministry will provide assistance, to help them yield their best output.

During his visit to Thoddoo, the minister sat down with island councilors and members of the Women’s Development Committee (WDC) for discussions regarding challenges faced by the farmers and other similar issues.

The meeting saw Dr. Shukuree briefing the councilors and WDC members on the details of the ASSURE project, to be carried out with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Under the project, a facility will be established to ensure farms are watered in a way that will not impact the island’s water table, in addition to producing water through renewable energy, safely collecting and storing rain water and establishing an irrigation system.