Revive our Sugar Industry, Minister Pleads Landowners
Landowners need to work together to revive the sugar industry, pleads the Minister for Sugar and Multi-Ethnic Affairs Charan Jeath Singh.
Mr Singh visited Wailevu Village near Labasa Airport yesterday where he was accorded a traditional welcome.
“My plea today is to the landowners of this country, my iTaukei brothers and sisters, we need your assistance to use the land and produce more cane,” Mr Singh said. “We will work on where and how the premium is going to be paid because this is a win-win situation where both the landowners and farmers are happy.”
He said the sugar industry was very sick.
“It has no money and the Government has been pouring millions of dollars over the last 15 years to keep it afloat,” he said.
“FSC is technically bankrupt. “I have been speaking to the executives of the FSC board and have been briefed that FSC needs re-modelling so that we can bring the farmers’ glory back and let it be an independent body not to be financed by the Government,” he said.
“As a limited liability company fsc should stand on its own feet and this is our first task.”
He said the Minister for Finance Biman Prasad was working on reallocating the budget so that the
Government could deliver goods and services as soon as possible. “You will have to be a bit patient as you know we are three weeks old in Government,” he said.
“We will definitely make sure that everyone in this country is looked after well.”
Meanwhile, Tui Wailevu Ratu Laisiasa Solodrau said they chose to have this tradition welcome because it was Mr Singh’s first official visit to Macuata as the minister. “Like how we welcome any other ministers we felt it was our obligation to do the same to Mr Singh who is originally from Labasa,” Ratu Laisiasa said.
“We have faith in him that he will deliver what he has promised during his campaign.”
He said they would surely work with him to revive the sugar industry as Labasa mill was the largest producer of sugar than any other sugar mills in Fiji.