Sugar ‘irreplaceable'

THE Government believes that there is no other agricultural produce that can match sugar.

This is in terms of foreign exchange, employment opportunities and providing a stable source of livelihood to a wide section of the rural population, said Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.

For that the State is committed to ensuring the survival of the Fiji Sugar Corporation while addressing other challenges faced by the sugar industry.

Speaking to about 500 cane farmers of the Cuvu/Lomawai farming communities in Nadroga on Friday, Commodore Bainimarama said the sugar industry was here to stay.

He said the sugar industry was facing some real challenges and the State was doing all it could to to address them.

"Government is unmoved in its resolve to ensure that it is revived to become viable and remain sustainable," he said.

Commodore Bainimarama, in his three hour and 15 minutes consultations with the farmers, said another challenge was the improvement in mill efficiencies and the need to increase cane production. "And where viable, the establishment of diversification initiatives of power-cogeneration and ethanol production," he said.

Repeating that no other crop could match sugar cane, he said: "It is in this regard that Government makes this decision, despite all odds to ensure that the industry becomes viable and remains sustainable."

source: fijitimes