The Fijian Government has invested a lot in the Sugar industry over the years, in an effort to make it more resilient.

This was highlighted by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at the 54th Session of the International Sugar Organization Council in London.

Bainimarama says government has invested in operational efficiency and reliability of the mills.

He adds that in 2016, one of the mills had to be permanently closed due to the devastating impacts of Cyclone Winston.

” We have centralized our crushing operations prioritizing quality and reliability in our mills and that has helped balance our season length to stop mill stoppages due to low supply and allowed for faster rehabilitation of our mills in the aftermath of severe weather event.”

PM says despite cyclones Josie and Keni earlier this year, the Fiji Sugar Corporation’s aim of crushing 1.7 million tonnes of sugar is still on track.
He says FSC has recorded a gross profit of $800,000 compared to an $18.5m loss in 2017.

Bainimarama says grants and subsidies for cane planting, subsidies for fertilizer and weedicides, support to farmers to cover cane cartage and cane access roads have also been upgraded.

He says 124 cane farmers have been paid nearly half a million dollars under these schemes.