Cane farmers to get $23.14 per tonne in third payment

Great news for cane farmers as the third payment of $23.14 per tonne of cane supplied for the 2023 season crop will take place this Wednesday.

It will bring the price paid to date for the season to $79.33 per tonne, with two more payments due before the end of October this year.

Fiji Sugar Corporation Chairman Nitya Reddy says this payment is in accordance with the provisions of the Master Award and is based on all proceeds of sale received up to and including the last day of February 2024.

He says in view of the Easter holidays, the FSC Board has agreed to make the payments by no later than Wednesday, barring any processing problems and their team is determined to make this happen.

Reddy says they will ensure that the parties will have access to their funds in good time before Easter.

He says this decision reflects FSC’s concern for the current financial difficulties of the 11,000 farmers and those additional thousands who are directly and indirectly dependent on the sugar revenue.

The Chair says they will be injecting a gross amount of nearly $37.33 million into the economy next week.

He says that includes nearly $ 1.1 million as production incentive payments paid to 4,924 farmers whose 2023 productions increased against their 2022 crop.

Reddy says it will be paid at $5 per tonne for every additional tonne, which is the first in the history of the industry.

He further says farmers benefited from this incentive payment and will continue in the coming years.

The Chair also says they consider this to be an important part of their suite of incentive packages to increase production.

He says this is in addition to another $1.1 million paid last week for manual harvesting, which brings the total payments to nearly $40 million within a fortnight.

Reddy adds although their cash resources are severely stretched, forcing them to borrow at a considerable cost, they are happy to play their part in the wider revival of the industry.