WHILE other small sugar-producing countries updated their farming and milling systems in preparation for global challenges and market volatility, Fiji has slipped behind in terms of cane and sugar production.
This was the comment made by Social Democratic Liberal Party leader Sitiveni Rabuka during a panel discussion on the sugar sector organised by Pacific Dialogue in Suva on Tuesday.
“We are just watching the world go by,” he said.
“People have revised their systems, refined their mills and we have just let things go.”
National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad shared similar views.
“Interestingly, one of the things Government keeps talking about is the politicisation of the industry and they attacked me and Mr Chaudhry and other politicians and accused us of destroying the industry and not offering any solutions,” he said.
“It’s like someone moving into a dilapidated and neglected house and three years after does nothing about fixing it and keeps blaming the former occupant of the house for the state it’s in.
“To prove the point, in 2006 we produced 3.2 million tonnes of cane and had 18,636 farmers, in 2015 we had 12,800 farmers and sugarcane crop went down to 1.84 million tonnes.
Questions sent to the Prime Minister’s office in regards to the comments made by Mr Rabuka and Professor Biman remain unanswered.
