Commission warning baseless: Farmers

THE Fiji Cane Growers Association has labelled a warning issued by the Sugar Commission as "baseless and a lie".

The association has even attacked the commission saying it has not made any positive contribution to the industry except for trying to put all the blame on farmers.

On Wednesday, Sugar Commission chairman John May urged farmers to refrain from burning their crop because it could compromise Fiji's ability to secure markets for its sugar.

Mr May also revealed the commission was looking at ways it could effectively tackle the problem.

He mentioned the possibility of reducing the time limit given to farmers to supply their burnt crop from one week to 36 hours.

FCGA general-secretary Bala Dass said the statements by Mr May clearly indicated his lack of knowledge on the sugar industry.

Mr Dass said sugar quality would not even be compromised if burnt crop was delivered to mills within 48 hours. "The mills are accepting burnt cane over a week from being burnt because if can still produce quality sugar," Mr Dass said.

"This has been happening ever since the industry started and nothing has changed so we really do not know what Mr May is talking about.

"He is trying to blame the farmers for burning their cane when it is the mills' inability to accept the burnt crop on time that is the major problem.

"The continuous disruptions experienced by all mills in the country are a huge contributing factor. If they fix the mills then there would not be any problem with burnt cane."

Mr Dass said if mills were maintained and operated normally, there would be no issue about milling burnt cane and poor sugar quality.

Attempts to contact Mr May yesterday were unsuccessful.

Earlier last week, Mr May said Fiji's reputation as a supplier had been tarnished due to the poor sugar quality as a result of increasing levels of burnt cane.
source:fijitimes