.gif)
A 6.4 percent drop in cane production between June 2008 and May this year has prompted the Fiji Sugar Corporation to consider a number of strategies to help boost the crop.
In its 2009 annual report, detailing operations in its financial year ended May 31, 2009, the FSC said cane production had declined during the year, where average yield per hectare of 45.6 tonnes was achieved compared to 47.2 tonnes per hectare in the 2008 financial year.
Although this was attributed to adverse weather conditions, it is a worrying trend for the country’s only sugar miller.
“The number of growers has declined steadily over the last 10 years as a result of a number of factors such as non-renewal of leases, migration of farmers from the cane farms to other more attractive source of livelihood and growing lack of interest in cane farming,” said FSC’s chief executive officer Deo Saran.
“This trend is expected to continue as growers make personal choices about their future. This has largely contributed to the continuing decline in cane production over this period."
He said the FSC has adopted a number of strategies in light of this, to help cane production to the levels required to meet its throughput requirements for its mills.
These strategies include efforts to increase farm sizes for farmers that choose to grow cane, pushing available land left vacant to be used in cane farming, improvement on its farm advisory services, bringing landowners into farming and introducing the concept of corporate farms, all supported by more farmers incentives.
“The FSC, in its commercial interest, intends to become a major player in cane farming and supply at least 20 percent of its cane supply requirements within the next 5 years. In this regard it plans to undertake large scale, mechanised cane farming in collaboration with its sugar buyers Tate & Lyle of London who is keen to participate in this scheme on a partnership basis,” Saran said.
Among incentives in its plans are the introduction of Cane Quality Payment System whereby farmers will be paid on quality of cane delivered to the mills and certification to market sugar under the higher priced “Fair Trade” logo.
“Upon certification sugar will be sold at a premium price and all the benefit will flow to the farmers,” Saran said.
“Perhaps the most significant incentive for farmers to increase cane production is the investments the Corporation is making in the mills which will not only improve its reliability but also its efficiency thus extracting more sugar from the same amount of cane. Farmers will directly benefit from this investment under the current cane payment system where sugar and molasses proceeds are shared by farmers,” he added.
