THE amount of sugarcane produced by an individual must not affect his or her eligibility to contest the Sugar Cane Growers Council election, says Lautoka Cane Producers Association vice president Arvin Prakash.
Mr Prakash made this clarification in his submission to the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights last week during the Sugar Industry (amendment) Bill 2024 consultations in Lautoka.
He said the threshold of cane production requirement for those who wished to stand in the Sugar Cane Growers Council elections was not clear.
“We are segregating by tonnage and the income, it’s discrimination,” he said.
Natova sector farmer Kanda Sami Gounder said counsellors producing a lesser cane tonnage were least worried when the harvesting period began.
“The people who produce most cane and those who are totally dependent on the income or revenue from the cane are the ones who suffer, towards the end of the season when they have to slash their cane or burn their cane and then harvest,” he said.
Mr Gounder is calling on those elected to be counsellors to be more considerate of farmers who are totally dependent on their cane proceeds.
Committee chairperson Ratu Rakuita Vakalalabure said an individual is eligible to contest the election if he or she has produced an annual cane amount prescribed by regulations.
“The regulations have not been done; the regulation is waiting for this (consultation). The regulations on the prescribed amount of tonnage for a person to produce, we are not in a capacity to say how much,” he said.
Ratu Rakuita said the committee had received ambitious submissions from farmers in Cuvu, Sigatoka and Nadi regarding the proposed threshold of cane production for elected council members.
“They have set the standard very high. They have said if someone wants to meet this criterion and stand as a candidate, let the farmer produce 50 to 100 tonnes. Those are the words of farmers in Nadi, but nothing has been set in stone.
“The regulation will come after this is passed but that is the view of the farmers in Nadi.”
Sugar Cane Growers Council CEO Vimal Dutt said the regulation would be mandated by the Sugar Industry Tribunal.
“The Sugar Industry Tribunal is an independent body and there are certain factors they will consider before coming to a threshold,” he said.
“The reason why this has been proposed by the Sugar Industry Tribunal during the drafting stage is because in the past, there were a few growers who were counsellors with 20-30 tonnes of cane, so that was very much immaterial.
“A grower has to produce a reasonable amount of cane so that he knows the insights of the industry to be able to represent a particular sector and to be able to negotiate and represent.”
