2016 Crushing Success Attributed To Mill Employees’ Families

Families of mill workers, cane farmers, lorry drivers and gangs have been dubbed the unsung heroes of the sugar industry in the country. Fiji Sugar Corporation Labasa mill general manager Karia Christopher has attributed the success of 2016 crushing season to these people during a celebration at FSC sports court in Labasa on Friday. “These are the people who have worked behind the scene so that people like you and me can achieve the success of the overall mill operations,” Mr Christopher said. “We were able to crush 653,353 tonnes of cane and get 73,285 tonnes of sugar which is way beyond our target.”

Chief guest at the function, lawyer Ami Kohli said the business communities in Labasa always relied on the sugar industry and they would continue to support and make sure that it existed forever for the future generation. “I would like to thank everyone and also the Indian experts who left their families back in India to teach and share knowledge to the workers at the mill. “On behalf of the Government, stakeholders and public of Macuata, I would like to acknowledge all your contributions. “We have come through cane supply problem due to poor harvesting effort but the factory operated extremely well without major breakdowns which we used to experience before.” Labasa Lorry Drivers Association general secretary Mohammed Idris said the overall performance of the mill and the crushing season was much better compared to last year.

“There are about 480 lorry drivers and we are happy that we didn’t get to experience major mill breakdown problems and waiting long hours in the queue like previous years,” Mr Idris said. In any company or industries there is always some problem and Labasa mill is no exception. Having understood this, they decided to work together with the mill management and see how best they can toil to supply cane to the mill.