THE sugar industry will not progress without the genuine involvement of growers, says Mahendra Chaudhry, the former prime minister and general secretary of the National Farmers Union.
He was responding to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s statement in Parliament that Government did not plan to hold elections for the Sugar Cane Growers Council.
“The Government’s actions have been unfair and unlawful,” Mr Chaudhry said.
“It is unfair to deduct money from growers’ payments for the SCGC levy when they have no say in the very organisation they are funding.
“And Government’s actions in dismantling the council were unlawful under the Sugar Act, which is still in place.”
Mr Chaudhry said the dismantling of organisations such as the Sugar Commission of Fiji and Fiji Sugar Marketing in 2009 effectively removed growers’ participation in an industry they had a 70 per cent stake in.
General-secretary of the Fiji Cane Growers Association Bala Dass said the PM’s statement in Parliament was a big blow to the industry as a whole.
“There are more than 13,000 growers in the country and without proper representation, where can they take their grievances to,” Mr Dass said.
“They can’t take their problems to the Fiji Sugar Corporation or to the Government.
“If Government is serious about bringing back confidence to the industry, it has to recognise the council because it is funded by the farmers and they must be represented.”
Mr Bainimarama told Parliament at its last sitting that no representation have been made by the growers to convene a new election “and they know the reason why”.
