SUGARCANE farmers who want mechanical harvesters made available during the crushing season need to ensure their land is suitable for the machines.

Fiji Sugar Corporation executive chairman Abdul Khan said farmers needed to first understand the requirements for operating the equipment.

“Mechanical harvesters work well on land that is 20 degrees in gradient,” he said.

“If you don’t have that kind of land then it is difficult to operate a cane harvester on your land.”

He said the corporation was working with new farmers on developing land that would be suitable for the machines.

“So what we are doing now is if there are any new areas of planting, especially if it is of a higher gradient, we are actually talking to the farmers to get their land levelled off to where we can actually use mechanical harvesters.”

He said the harvesters were in demand and FSC was preparing for the change.