A small farming community outside of Labasa is requesting urgent assistance in the raising of a bridge along the cane access road.

The bridge has been subjected to wash outs during heavy rain over the years, often preventing farmers from taking their produce to the market.

The heavy rain in previous weeks has made the condition much worse as almost a third of the bridge has been washed out.

Farmer Ramesh Chand says it’s only been three months since the bridge was repaired by the Fiji Sugar Corporation and it was damaged by only two floods.

“Sometimes we have to wait five to six hours before we can cross this bridge. We take vegetables to the market, we have cane access problems, and there are school children who go to the big schools. We face a big problem here. We want the government to help us.”

Built by the Fiji Sugar Corporation, the bridge was put in place to allow for cane farmers to take their cane to the mill.

According to FSC, cane access roads and its bridges are usually refurbished during the non-crushing season to prepare for when crushing starts.

FSC says while they cannot comment on the Narusa Bridge alone, all the cane areas affected by the recent adverse weather conditions will be visited by industry stakeholders following their consultations in the North come February.