WELLINGTON, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The government is backing the food and fibers sector to lead New Zealand's economic recovery from COVID-19 with targeted investments as part of its Fit for a Better World roadmap, Forestry Minister Stuart Nash said on Wednesday.

"To drive New Zealand's recovery, we launched the Fit for a Better World - Accelerating our Economic Potential roadmap last year to boost productivity, sustainability, and jobs over the next 10 years," Nash said in a statement.

The roadmap was focused on identifying creative and new ideas for lifting returns and improving sustainability, Nash said, adding last year the government up-scaled the Sustainable Food and Fiber Futures (SFF Futures) fund to further boost innovation efforts.

SFF Futures has so far committed more than 111 million NZ dollars (79 million U.S. dollars) of funding towards new projects worth a total of almost 250 million NZ dollars (178 million U.S. dollars). This emphasizes the importance the sector places on innovation, which is vital to the delivery of the roadmap, he said.

Various organizations are also working with farmers and growers on practical solutions to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change, which is to strengthen the environmental credentials of food and fiber products and drive further value growth, he said. Enditem