AFTER leaving sugarcane farming because of the rising costs and low cane price years ago, Surendra, from Wairuku settlement, Ra, returned in 2014 to tend to his late brother’s farm.
And the 62-year-old said the situation had worsened.
“During my father’s time we used to harvest up to 400 tonnes of cane, now we can only harvest close to 240 tonnes,” he said.
“And even harvesting 240 tonnes of sugar cane is not enough to pay for all the farm expenses.”
Surendra said only 12 out of 22 acres of his brother’s farm had cane.
“The rest is used for livestock and vegetables.
“We had 13 members in our gang, now we have only four farmers left.
“Things started becoming difficult about seven or eight years ago with the increase in the price of goods and also the cost of items needed for our farms.”
He said his return to sugarcane farming was very disappointing because he noticed an even bigger gap between the money that farmers made and the cost of producing cane.
“I converted my farm to a residential lease because I wasn’t making any money. In 2015, my brother’s farm produced 240 tonnes and we managed a profit of $4000.
“We had to use that money sparingly because we have to use it over six months until the next cane payment.
“In 2016, we only managed to produce 87 tonnes and we went into a loss. We had about $950 in debt.
“The cane payments were not enough including the fourth cane payment we received last week.
“The fifth cane payment that is due in October will be about $1.50 a tonne. No farmer can save anything with that kind of payment.
“With labourers charging $22 for every tonne they harvest and the lorry charge also at $22 per tonne, many farmers are losing money.”
He said while Government had been assisting farmers, there wasn’t any change in the high production, harvesting and transport costs.
“Government has been doing a good job in trying to help farmers but there are still so many issues that are affecting us. We are lucky that we have cash crops and livestock to sell.
“If we didn’t have this we would not be able to put food on our table.
“The sugar industry is not what it used to be 10 or 20 years ago.”