Fiji growers ask government for sugar money

The Fiji Cane Growers Association is asking the country's interim government for more money to revive the country's ailing sugar industry.

The Growers Association says the industry lost more than $US5 million in the six months leading up to November 30, 2008.

The association wants the government to find alternative funding for the sugar industry as a multi-million dollar grant provided by the European Union remains in doubt.

The association's general secretary, Bala Dass, has told Fijilive that reforms are desperately needed in the industry, which was once the mainstay of the Fiji economy.