As an impasse between the sugar cane farmers and the Government continues, National Farmers Union and Leader of the Fiji Labour Party Mahendra Chaudhry says contrary to Minister for Agriculture and Sugar Tomasi Tunabuna’s claims, the Cabinet has not provided any new initiatives or assistance to cane farmers but has simply continued what was put in place by previous governments.
This comes as some cane farmers have refused to harvest unless the minimum guaranteed price per tonne of $85 is increased to $110.
Chaudhry says the minimum guaranteed price was set in 2018 and it needs to be reviewed to take account of cost escalations in the last 8 years.
He says the farmers are claiming $110 per tonne which is based on the cumulative inflation over these years.
The NFU General Secretary says the claim for a delivery payment of $60 per tonne is based on the average cost to the farmer for harvesting and transportation of cane to the mills.
While responding to the Minister claims that he has not received any correspondence from Chaudhry, he requests that he inquire from his office why emails sent to him on 18th December last, and 7th May and 6th June this year were not received by him.
He says he has personally requested the Minister for a meeting to clear the air and is awaiting his response.
Chaudhry says he also wrote to the Prime Minister earlier this week, advising him of the situation as the Chair of the Special Parliamentary Committee on the Sugar Industry.
During the press conference this morning, Tunabuna is urging sugarcane farmers to harvest their cane, confirming there will be no increase in the guaranteed cane price from $85 to $110.
He has warned that failing to harvest would not only affect farmers' income and loan repayment obligations but also contractors, transport operators, mill workers and businesses that rely on the sugar industry.
Tunabuna says farmers must first sign the Memorandum of Growers Agreement with harvesters and transport service providers that determines transport rates based on the forecast cane price.
He says the recent fuel price increase should not affect those rates because the Government has provided a $5 million fuel subsidy, while the Fiji Sugar Corporation is also paying a 10 cents per litre rebate, bringing total fuel assistance to $2.10 per litre.
He adds that the assistance is greater than the increase in fuel prices, with the difference going directly to farmers.
Tunabuna says if the guaranteed cane price was increased to $110 per tonne, the Government’s top-up payment would exceed $80 million, which is almost equal to the Ministry of Sugar’s total budget allocation of $97 million.
The Minister says with current world market prices, the Government is already expected to pay more than $40 million in top-up payments next year alone.
Tunabuna says any decision to increase the guaranteed cane price would require the Government to reconsider the other assistance currently being provided to sugarcane farmers.
He says the Government can only afford such an increase if other subsidies are removed, adding that support provided through other programmes already exceeds what was available to farmers in 2018.
