The Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) will continue to cover the full conversion rate costs for farmers transporting cane from tramlines to lorries until the Sugar Industry Tribunal decides whether tramline cane delivery services will be restored.
FSC chief executive officer Bhan Pratap Singh made the clarification during the Parliamentary Sugar Select Committee meeting in Ba last week after farmers raised concerns over delays in the approval process.
A conversion rate refers to the cost of moving sugarcane from the tramline to transport trucks.
Currently, farmers pay varying costs to move cane from their farms to the tramline, depending on distance, while the current cane cartage rate by lorry is $24.63 per tonne.
Mr Singh said farmers would not bear the additional cost while the tribunal considers the matter.
“They deliver it to the rail, and getting that cane to the mill will now be FSC’s cost,” he said.
“Before it was through rail by FSC, but now it will be through lorry. FSC will pay the cost until the tribunal makes a decision.”
Tribunal Registrar Timothy Brown said the Sugar Cane Growers Council had submitted a request for the restoration of tramline services, which was now before the tribunal.
He said the tribunal, like any court, must be allowed to make its own decision independently.
