INCREASING the cane price to $100 per tonne will not solve sugarcane farmers’ issues or bring them relief, says Fiji Sugar Corporation CEO Graham Clark.
Neither, he said, will the continued talk of resurrecting the Penang sugar mill resolve issues for the people of Rakiraki.
Speaking to about 80 farmers at consultations on the FSC’s Strategic Action Plan in Lautoka last night, he said the answer lay in reducing costs for farmers, increasing efficiency of mills and improving marketing of Fiji sugar.
“$100 per tonne is wrong,” he said.
“If you demand a higher price then your costs will also go up.
“There’s a certain newspaper talking about bringing back the Penang mill. People need to forget about the Penang mill because it never made a profit.”
Mr Clark said the FSC was looking to establish a new mill that operated using the latest technology and that would be located in an area that took advantage of cane production.
Mr Clark added that the FSC’s new action plan would look at assisting farmers by purchasing equipment best suited for Fiji and to provide them to farmers at cost.
“This will result in costs going down as farmers choose to hire our equipment instead of others and this will improve competition.”
Mr Clark also said another big cost for farmers was labour. He said the FSC would look at managing labour costs, but he did not detail how this would be done.
He said the FSC would look at increasing the ratio of farmers using rail from 25 per cent to 60 per cent.
“I look at the 750km rail system that is underused. After investing in farm machinery, we will invest in the rail network. We’ve got consultants ready and we will survey lines and invest in rail machinery including caged bins and locomotives.”
Mr Clark also said there would be a lot of movement at FSC, with personnel moved to areas best suited to their strengths.
“We have field officers who are doing administrative roles. We will be making sure we have qualified people who can give farmers the type of advice they need to plant better cane.
“That will be our new focus, to help improve cane production in Fiji because sugar is not made in the mill, it is made on each grower’s farm.”
Meanwhile, Mr Clark cut short questions by Lautoka farmer Mahendra Kumar who asked if productive farmers who did not benefit from Government’s $10 million fourth cane bailout would be compensated in some way.
He said productive growers who had all their deductions made in the first three payments and those who did not take a loan, did not receive anything from the bailout.
Mr Clark responded by saying that farmers in Fiji were always looking for handouts.
“Why should the Government give you money?” he said. “Work hard and do something for yourselves.”
FSC chief operating officer Navin Chandra said the payout was to ensure that the poorest of farmers received something to prepare for harvesting.