Sugar industry AKISI NAIVELI SUVA DEAR Dr Sushil Sharma, I recently read your article titled “Fiji Sugar on Life Support” published in The Fiji Times on May 23, 2026, and I wish to commend you for your honest and confronting piece written on Fiji’s sugar industry in recent years. What made your article particularly powerful was not merely the statistics surrounding debt, declining production, rail collapse, lease insecurity or institutional deterioration, but the way you humanised the realities faced by the ordinary cane farmer. Your observation that the farmer himself became the hidden subsidy sustaining the industry was both profound and deeply unsettling. It forced readers to confront a truth many within the industry, Government and wider public have perhaps avoided for far too long. Your reflections on unpaid family labour, delayed payments, mounting deductions, lease insecurity and the emotional burden carried by generations of growers resonated strongly. Equally compelling was your comparison between the hardship on the ground and the apparent disconnect within administrative and executive structures. The article successfully moved beyond economics and highlighted the social, historical and human dimensions tied to Fiji’s sugar industry. I sincerely hope this piece is only the beginning of a deeper series of discussions and follow-up analyses from you and I hope to see more contributions to The Fiji Times Opinion on our sugar industry. Fiji’s sugar industry is far too important historically, socially and economically for the conversation to end at identifying decline alone. There remains an urgent need to truly unpack the many “demons” behind the industry — governance failures, political interference, inefficiencies, land tenure complexities, transport infrastructure deterioration, labour shortages, generational disengagement and the sustainability of the FSC model itself. More importantly, I hope future pieces from your lived experiences and observations can also begin exploring practical and courageous solutions for the way forward. Fiji desperately needs informed and independent voices capable not only of diagnosing the problem honestly, but also helping shape meaningful reform discussions grounded in reality rather than political rhetoric. Some questions that emerged strongly for me after reading your article include: What immediate reforms do you believe are necessary to restore dignity and economic viability for the ordinary cane farmer? Is Fiji attempting to revive sugar as a commercial industry, or merely managing a slow decline through repeated intervention? What role should diversification, renewable energy, agro-processing and alternative crops play in the future of the cane belt? Can the current FSC governance and operational model realistically survive without major structural reform? Has the industry now reached a point where preserving rural livelihoods may require a fundamentally different agricultural strategy altogether? Thank you once again for your courage in writing this piece. Articles such as yours are important because they provoke uncomfortable but necessary national conversations. I look forward to hopefully reading further contributions from you on this critical issue affecting so many Fijian families and communities.
Our girmitiya THE contributions by girmitiya in Fiji “Legacy lives on” (FT14/5) should be availed to every Fijian, lest we forget who they were. We all should honour and salute them as we pass the message to our future Fijians. They are our history. I believe our girmitiya have made Fiji a better place for those who will live peacefully after they have gone. Legacy lives on. God bless Fijithe land of freedom, hope and glory. TAHIR ALI Hamilton, New Zealand
Flour and rice A YAQONA selling business located at Kinoya recently wrote on their marketing Facebook page that they only sell waka, no flour or rice added. So, in other words, consumers have been drinking grog mixed with flour and rice sold by some known businesses. Good to know eh consumer council, health authority and Fiji police. Perhaps it’s about time to be paying grog businesses a visit. AREKI DAWAI Suva
Damp duty WHAT a shocking picture on your front page! Soaked security forces standing guard in the pouring rain. It’s hardly surprising there is so much coughing and sneezing around. Why can’t the boys be issued with umbrellas? MICHAEL SCOTT Morris St, Lautoka
Cost of living WHILST the cost of everything is rising due to various obvious factors, some places in certain parts of the world have resorted to selling their own child so that the family may survive with food. This is an extreme scenario and I hope respective governments around the world will do what is right to support their own people. This reminder also goes for us in Fiji to not neglect our own people who have voted you into Parliament. We are just glad and thankful the God-given air is free for us to breathe. If not, someone may come up with an idea to also tax the air we breathe. JUKI FONG CHEW Nadawa, Nasinu
EFL surcharge TO describe the whole EFL episode, we can use the expression, “the sleep is mine, but the dream belongs to EFL and the shareholders”. This expression illustrates concepts of the subconscious, representing how someone else anchors your thoughts even when you try to escape into rest. RAKESH CHAND SHARMA Nadi
Productivity to match wages DINESH JAMNADAS SUGAR AVE, LAUTOKA I AM not against wage increases. But they must rise with productivity, or the poorest suffer most. Nearly half our people — the unemployed, the retired, and subsistence farmers — cannot escape higher consumer prices. In recent years, wages have almost doubled from $2.72 to $5/hour. Has this reduced poverty, or deepened it? The Bureau of Statistics should provide clear figures. Consider bread or any product. If one worker makes one loaf per hour at $1/hour, the labour cost is $1. Raise wages to $10/ hour without increasing output, and the cost per loaf jumps to $10. Add supply–chain costs, and bread could cost $13–$15. Imported bread may then be cheaper, risking local jobs. But if productivity rises — say the worker makes 10 loaves per hour — then even at $10/hour, the labour cost per loaf is only $1. The bread price rises only slightly, perhaps to $2.50 or $3. That protects consumers and sustains employment. Keeping the same productivity even with increased wages, which is what the tone of some people suggests, is not good for our small economy, our exports, tourism, agriculture and definitely not good for those unemployed, retired, subsistence farmers. For a small economy like Fiji, tying wages to productivity is essential. Larger countries can abandon low–value industries, but we cannot. To compete, we must keep prices lower than bigger economies.
Constitutional reform PHYLIS RYLAND SUVA AS Fiji continues important discussions on constitutional reform, important questions must be asked. Is there genuine transparency, accountability, and inclusivity in this process? Are ordinary citizens truly heard, or are decisions once again being shaped mainly by political elites? A constitution should be by the people and for the people. Is this fact well understood or are we again pretending to know it all? It should protect democracy, uphold justice, and ensure that power remains accountable to the citizens. However, many Fijians continue to question whether the constitution is being used to its full purpose. Is it serving the people equally, or has it become a document interpreted only for political convenience. Transparency is essential if the public is expected to trust the reform process. Citizens deserve open discussions, clear communication, and honest consultation. Accountability must also remain central because leaders should never stand above the very constitution they swear to uphold. Most importantly, inclusivity matters. The voices of youths, rural communities, workers, religious groups, and ordinary citizens must not be overlooked. Constitutional reform should not merely be about changing laws on paper. It should be about strengthening democracy, protecting freedoms, and building national unity. If this process is truly for the people, then the people must remain at the centre of every decision made. Fiji stands at an important moment in history. The question is whether we will build a constitution that truly belongs to all Fijians.
Rigged sports DONALD SINGH NAUSORI I BELIEVE Super Rugby Pacific is bad. That clear forward pass to Zac Lomax for his match winning try was deliberately overlooked. Even the commentators believed it was a forward pass. Lomax was a good rugby league player who is being eyed for the Wallabies for the Rugby World Cup next year, so maybe the powers that be, including the match TMO, had to let the try stand. The Drua had been leading at that point of the match and could have gone on to win the match. Well played, Drua. Then we saw the referee stopping Rico Verhoeven in the boxing match against Usyk at the end of round 11. Rico was leading on the scorecards at that point of the fight. Boxing had to protect its image so Rico, a champion kickboxer, was not allowed to go to round 12. I believe boxing is corrupt. Boxing is protecting its poster boy Usyk. Otherwise, that legitimate body shot by Daniel Dubois that floored Usyk in their first fight wouldn’t have been ruled a low blow. No doubt Usyk is an excellent boxer, but the alphabet sanctioning boxing bodies are heavily favouring outcomes for Usyk. Next year’s Rugby World Cup will have its own share of match rigging by officials. That Flying Fijians try against France in the 1999 Rugby World Cup was scratched citing a forward pass. Fiji would have won that match.
