Over two thousand eight hundred farmers from the Labasa Mill area will soon receive their first ever transportation subsidy.

The Labasa Cane Producers Association yesterday paid over five hundred and seventy-four thousand six hundred dollars to the Fiji Sugar Corporation which will now be deposited into individual farmers accounts.

The payment of one dollar per tonne is from the last crushing season and the payment will depend on the production level of each farmer.

FSC chief operating officer, Navin Chandra urged the farmers to maintain their standards.

_“We are very fortunate that our sugar is almost 100% Fair Trade certified maybe the only country in the world. So as long as we can find the market the Cane Producers Association will always get that money to assist you. So we need to maintain our certification, we need to continue doing what our executives are doing – continue the good work.”

Fairtrade focuses its efforts on farmers, so they can receive a fair share of money from the billion dollar sugar export market.

The Labasa Cane Producers Association was the first organization in Fiji to become Fairtrade certified.