THE Sugar Industry Tribunal cancelled more than 4750 nonproductive cane growers contracts in 2024.
While presenting the Tribunal’s 2021 Annual Report before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs this week, Assistant Registrar Wini Niumataiwalu said the mass contract cancellations was carried out during an exercise led by the tribunal to weed out nonproductive growers.
She said in 2021, there was a total of 16,913 registered growers with the number reduced to 13,771 in mid-2026.
“Since 2021, we have a total of 16,913 registered growers and comparing that to August 2026, there are 13,771 growers,” she said.
“There was an exercise that the tribunal’s office had done in 2024 whereby there was 4750 contract cancellations for all those nonproductive growers.”
Ms Niumataiwalu said under harvesting limit processes regulated by the tribunal, a total of 1176 applications were approved.
“The cancellations was done in 2024 and there were notices given to the growers but there was an appeals process given to them if they did not want their contracts to be cancelled.
“There was a total of 1325 growers reinstated to their old contract numbers.”
