In the past ten years, the government has pumped in close to $550 million to keep the Fiji Sugar Corporation afloat.

This was highlighted by Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh during a press conference yesterday.

Singh says FSC on its own is insolvent, and it cannot be supported on its own.

Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh

Therefore, he adds, the government had to assist FSC to ensure the industry could carry on.

Singh says that directly and indirectly, the government has been subsidizing the farmers by giving them fertilizer and chemical subsidies.

“So it’s like, as much as you can say, that it’s not something that one would like to do, but to keep the industry afloat, to keep these 200,000 people with some sort of activity and job, any government, for that matter, would continue to do that.”

According to Singh, they are focused on making sure that the industry survives and heads in a better direction in the coming years.

He further states that the FSC, in the past ten months, has not defaulted on any of its debt payments.