Retired canegrower Mukesh Chand has called on the Government to consider serious stakeholder suggestions to sustain the sugar industry.
The former grower, a once proud owner of 36 acres of cane farm land, was in Ba this week and paid a visit to members of the Rarawai Cane Lorry Association.
“The Sugar Ministry should come and have meetings, listen to the struggles of these grassroots stakeholders, farmers and drivers especially,” Mr Chand suggested.
“These are the people that do the hard yards and suffer as well when mills break down, and we have been saying the same thing for a number of years now.
“We were born farmers, and we will die farmers. We still have proud canefarmers around and this is why the Government should look after their welfare.”
Mr Chand, now a commercial dalo farmer in Vuci Rd in Nausori, said he was the last of his family to be involved in sugarcane farming.
He sold his three cane farms in Lautoka and Ba to move to his only son in Nausori.
He said many ageing farmers were still in the business carrying on the legacy of their forefathers.
“Unfortunately, I have to break that tradition because I have seen that there’s not much left to be proud of in this industry. The suffering is unbearable.
“I am happy now that I have also established a love for dalo and vegetable farming. That is where my heart is.”
