The Sugar Ministry has set a harvest target of 1.8 million tonnes of cane in the upcoming crushing season and two million tonnes next year.
Minister Charan Jeath Singh announced this to industry stakeholders who were part of the Interactive Workshop on Integrated Nutrient Management for Sugarcane in Fiji at Lautoka’s Waterfront Hotel yesterday.
He said for the next four years, government has a plan to increase sugar and cane production.
“Secondly, diversification for the sugar industry is a must and I have seen how it has been successfully done in India during my visit last month,” Mr Singh said.
“We want the industry to work on the establishment of an ethanol plant as well as a sugar refinery plant that can refine raw sugar to white sugar and supply it to local businesses that are currently importing white sugar.
“We also have to plan to increase production through mechanisation, this is a top priority.
“And the industry, in collaboration with government, will continue to drive the mechanisation program.”
Between 2011 and 2022, the lowest cane production achieved was 1.3 million tonnes while the highest cane production was 1.8 million tonnes.
“In fact, the cane production of 1.3 million tonnes is the lowest recorded since 1994 until 2022.
“Average yield per hectare in the past ten years has been fluctuating between 37 tonnes per hectare in 2012 to 50 tonnes per hectare in 2022.
“The land area under cane has reduced to half from over 73,000 hectares in 1994 to below 33.000 hectares in 2022.”
