Government will not act under threat, says Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
Earlier this week Ba sugarcane farmer Arvind Singh had called for an urgent roundtable meeting with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, warning that Fiji’s sugar industry is on the brink of collapse after an estimated 80,000 tonnes of sugarcane were left unharvested last season.
Speaking to this newspaper in Lautoka on Friday Mr Rabuka said the crushing season had started and farmers should be harvesting.
“We have given our assurance that we have announced the guaranteed minimum cane payment,” he said.
“And minimum meaning it is the bottom and there will be additional payment and that will be dictated to us by the economic situation of the day.”
When asked if cane farmers would receive positive news when Parliament sits tomorrow (Monday), Mr Rabuka said: “No, it cannot be that early”.
“It will be after the announcement and as we see Government savings and hopefully some support coming from our friends.”
