Once referred to as the economic backbone of the country and the largest earner by far, innovation and development in the sugarcane industry in the 1980s was big news for the nation.
The Fiji Times of Wednesday April 28, 1982, told the tale of the Labasa Sugar Mill as it came up on its 88th anniversary.
“In 1894 it crushed 34,440 tons of sugar cane at the rate of 17.4 tonnes per hour and this year it is going to crush an estimated 980,000 tonnes of sugar cane at a rate of more than 251 tonnes per hour to produce 121,000 tonnes of sugar,” the report said.
“This, in short, is the story of the Labasa Sugar Mill which has been crushing sugar cane just outside the Labasa, town for the past 88 years.
The Mill’s general manager at the time, Mr Ram Karan Singh, had great plans for the Mill and plans to cut down the use of oil from an estimated 1000 tonnes a season to less than 300 tonnes a season, by burning more bagasse, the dry pulpy bi-product of crushing cane, to produce steam to keep the boilers and the turbines turning.
To further this end, a new evaporating system was also to be installed at the mill to remove moisture from the bagasse.
“All in all, the Labasa Mill looks set to continue producing more and more sugar each year,” the article read.
“During the past five years more than $26,000,000 has been spent on repairing and putting in new equipment in the mill.
“A new bulk loading, system was installed at Malau in 1978.
“The number of sugar cane growers in Vanua Levu has increased from 3907 in 1978 to 4772 in 1981.
“The rate of crushing has increased from 140 tonnes per hour in 1977 to 251 tonnes per hour last year and the cane crop has increased from 606,154 tonnes in 1977 to 930,263 tonnes last year.
“This year’s estimate is 980,000 tonnes of sugar cane.
“The Labasa Sugar Mill has taken another step forward by announcing a revolutionary idea of pollution control of mill discharges.
“The mill will this year use micro-organisms, to consume and thus remove the organic waste.”
