Manual harvesting of sugar cane has become a grave challenge for the sugar industry, states the 2020 Sugar Cane Growers Council (SCGC) report that was tabled in Parliament last week.
The SCGC said in the bid to mitigate increasing labour issues and to promote mechanisation, growers were encouraged to form co-operatives.
“In this season, 28 new mechanical sugarcane harvesters were brought into the country by grower cooperatives, Fairtrade Cane Producers’ associations and individual investors.
“A total of 87 mechanical harvesters operated during this crushing season and harvested 629,762 tonnes.
“Overall, 35 per cent of the crop was harvested mechanically (billet cane) and this had significantly improved the daily cane supply to the factories.”
“With the current trend we expect more than 50 per cent of the crop to be harvested by machines in coming years.”
A total of 1875 harvesting gangs were operational in 2020 with 189 in Rakiraki, 144 in Tavua, 355 in Ba, 216 in Lautoka, 268 in Nadi, 108 in Sigatoka, 426 in Labasa and 169 in Seaqaqa.
