Karan: Contractors fail to honour their side of deal

SOME contractors have failed to honour their side of the deal when given jobs to do in cane field areas, says Ministry of Sugar permanent secretary Yogesh Karan. Speaking to farmers in Lagalaga and Wainikoro in Macuata recently, Mr Karan described jobs of such contractors as shoddy.

He said this was not fair and called on FSC field officers to regularly meet with farmers to discuss issues affecting them.

“You need to meet with farmers regularly, take their complaints, make a report and submit to the general manager,” he said.

“We have also discussed with our minister to have a special fund allocated for field drainage as there were no such allocation made in the past although we made submissions.”

Farmers complained that for the past many years, the drainage system has failed causing flooded farms which have affected crops and reduced production.

Farmer Dewan Prasad said his farm had no drains. “Five years ago, big drains were in our farms in Wainikoro and this used to drain out excess water,” he said. “But now, water sits in the farm and has affected our crops.

“I used to harvest 250 tonnes of cane, but now I am only harvesting two tonnes of cane because of poor drainage system.”

Another farmer Eliki Tuvilo said machine operators were also a problem.

“We’ll see the diggers in our area to clear the drains, but it will work for only one day a week,” he said.

“When we ask for the operator we are told that he is sick for four days, but Government had paid them for the contract job to do the drains.”

Mr Karan urged field officers to monitor these situations and work closely with farmers.