In a bid to address the shortage of cane cutters in the country, inmates will be out again this year to help in the harvesting of sugarcane.
Fiji Sugar Corporation’s chief operating officer, Navin Chandra says they are taking the assistance of the inmates in order to fully maximize the harvesting of cane.
Chandra says FSC held talks with the Fiji Corrections Service to work out the logistics of the services to be rendered.
“The focus this year will be the hilly areas so farmers who are finding difficulties harvesting cane due to a shortage of labour could register at prisons department and allocation for appropriate labour will be provided accordingly for those areas.”
Chandra says groups of inmates will be deployed to Ra, Ba, Lautoka and Labasa.
He says taking this step will not fulfil the entire shortage of cane cutters in the country and farmers need to look for their cutters before crushing starts.
