The Standing Committee on Economic Affairs has made several recommendations aimed at improving the sugar industry in its review of Fiji Sugar Corporations annual reports from 2016-2020 that was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.
The committee recommends for the Ministry of Sugar Industry to engage in comprehensive dialogue with stakeholders in the sugar sectors to address the structural issues affecting the industry.
The committee states these issues are land lease, acute shortage of labour, excessive burning of cane and the cane payment system.
“The Ministry of Sugar needs to set a key target of achieving 2 million tons of sugarcane to breakeven,” states the committee.
“The committee recommends the Ministry of Sugar, Ministry of Lands and TLTB to work closely to ensure that all land allocated to sugarcane (approximately 50,000 hectares) are being effectively used by farmers.”
The committee said 17,000 hectares of suitable land isn’t being utilised for farming.
“The Ministry of Sugar, the Ministry of Agriculture, and SRIF to come together to develop strategies to better utilise the land.
“The committee recommends that the Ministry of Sugar work with the Ministry of Finance to explore the establishment of a multi-purpose railway system to cater for cane cartage and other goods and services.”
