FIJI Sugar Corporation chief executive officer Graham Clark said Vanuatu canecutters brought in last year by the Ministry of Sugar proved a successful exercise.
While speaking to farmers in Ba this week, he said the canecutters did an extremely good job while they were working in local sugarcane fields.
He said the canegrowers whose farms the 19 foreigners worked in did not face any issues with the cutters.
“I think that they did really well while they were here and it is an avenue that we could explore further,” Mr Clark said.
Mr Clark was responding to concerns expressed by Moto Sector farmers on the exorbitant canecutter rates that labourers were charging farmers.
Moto Sector gang leader Arun Sharma explained that the canecutters took most of the revenue earned by a grower.
He said other growers did not have the income to hire growers from afar.
“Most of them cannot go to places like Tailevu or Vanua Levu to look for canecutters,” he said.
“So they rely on cutters from nearby areas and they usually charge a very high rate.”
