Cane farmers in the interior of Seaqaqa yesterday received a new mechanical harvester to help them in their cane farms.
Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the government wants to ensure that farmers are given the right tools to increase their production level.
“The cooperative should look after the machine and you need to ensure that there’s transparency within the cooperative that everybody gets treated equally and fairly, there’s accountability. Because if your cooperative works well then there’s an opportunity for FSC to work a lot more closely with you to be able to give you more mechanical harvesters, more mechanical equipment to be able to ensure that your cost of production is reduced.”
Twenty-seven members of the cooperative contributed $2,550 towards the purchase of the mechanical harvester while the government paid $90,000 through a grant and a loan from the Fiji Development Bank.
