Grower in mental stress
LADY canegrower Padma Wati says the recent announcement of the $54.36 cane forecast price has brought about a lot of mental stress.
The Drasa Dam, Lautoka grower claimed she would have to fork out extra to be able to meet costs for this harvesting season.
“This year has been really hard for me and this announcement means I will have to fork out more from my pocket to foot bills,” Ms Wati said.
“I can’t keep running to the Sugar Cane Growers Council to get loans because it will be an extra burden as I am still paying for loans I got from 2018.
“I am paying for tractor diesel, paying for workers, rice and the harvests and what I am getting is not even enough to cover for all these costs and this is stressing me out.”
Ms Wati said her family had depended entirely on earnings from their 10acre sugar cane farm for many years and she was worried things turned out a bit different this year with the decrease in cane price.
“I am voicing my grievance as a concerned lady grower ... as a widow.
“I can’t expect anything this year from sugar cane compared with previous years where I could have some money to spend on Diwali and Christmas because the payment received is not enough to cater for everything and even my savings.
“I need some assurance on maintaining my interest with the sugar industry because I seem to be losing interest given the way things are going right now.”
The Drasa widow said the future of the sugar industry was bleak and growers needed some assurance on how they would be able to sustain their farms and the industry they had fallen in love with for many decades.