Good news for sugarcane farmers as the Fiji Sugar Corporation Board has announced the third payment of $23.14 per tonne of cane supplied for the 2023 season crop.

FSC Chair Nitya Reddy says the Board has agreed to make the payments no later than next Wednesday.

Reddy says the payment is in accordance with the provisions of the Master Award and is based on all proceeds of sale received up to and including the last day of February 2024.

He adds that this decision reflects the Corporation’s concern for the current financial difficulties of the 11,000 farmers and those additional thousands who are directly and indirectly dependent on sugar revenue.

The FSC Chair says through this payment, they are injecting a gross amount of nearly $37.33 million into the economy.

He says this includes nearly $1.1 million as production incentive payments paid to 4924 farmers whose 2023 productions increased compared to their 2022 crop.

Reddy says the payment is in addition to another $1.1 million paid last week for manual harvesting, bringing the total payments to nearly $40 million within a fortnight.

He says it will bring the price paid to date for the season to $79.33 per tonne, with two more payments due before the end of October 2024.