Our core business promoting cane production : Clark
There is a need to invest more on mechanical harvesters, says Fiji Sugar Corporation CEO.
Fiji Sugar Corporation’s new core business is to promote the production of sugar cane. This was highlighted by the FSC chief executive officer Graham Clark during the FSC’s talanoa session at the Drasa Secondary School in Lautoka on Tuesday night. Mr Clark said: “In the three months that I have been at FSC, I found more reports, more strategies more talking, more this and more than whenever imagined. “So the time has come to stop the talking, my job now is to drive the team at FSC to focus on our new core business.
“Sugar cane is a very forgiving crop, you have been growing it for years and if you look after it well, it will reward you.
“I have been hearing stories of what the yields used to be and what it looked like in some farms. We know that we can improve our yields from where we are, I am not going to go back and talk about the past,” he said.
Mr Clark said the FSC has a very ambitious plan in different phases.
“Phase one is this year. This year we got lucky the weather is being kind, no cyclone, no hurricane and we have two million tons of cane.
Mr Clark said their job is to tackle two million tonnes of cane and produce as much sugar as possible and better prices could be returned to the farmers.
Mr Clark said phase two is in two to three years where they will consolidate the work.
“We lift the production in terms of the yields, per acre.
“We improve the efficiency of the factories and we start to get back to three and half million tonnes of cane in the industry.
Mr Clark said from there, they can look beyond three years to see the price.
Moreover, Fereti Rika a farmer from Drasa, Lautoka, requested if FSC could repair the road in his area because it becomes difficult for the sugar cane farmers to transport their harvested sugar cane to the mill.
Fiji Sugar Corporation Chief Operating Officer, Navin Chandra thanked Mr Rika for raising his concerns.
“Our issue is how we could make sure that your roads get done on time.
“I can assure you we have got about 3000 kilometres of road to maintain to get ready for the crushing season,” he said.
Mr Chandra also assured Mr Rika that the road will be fixed as soon as possible.
Sunil Singh from Tuvu, Lautoka, also raised his concerns on the shortage of labour in Fiji and if FSC could invest in more mechanical harvesters.
Mr Clark responded saying, FSC as part of its mechanical investment will look into the matter. “We understand that the trend is different in Fiji and there are harvesters that can work on undulated land.
“We will need to find right equipment to suit the conditions here in Fiji.
About 100 sugarcane farmers from different areas in Lautoka attended the talanoa session.