Sugar cane farmers can expect good news as the Prime Minister is expected to make an announcement on their cane payment that will be more than the guaranteed price of $85 per tonne tomorrow.
This has been confirmed by Minister for Sugar Industry, Charan Jeath Singh who says farmers are going to be really happy before Diwali and Christmas with the announcement the Prime Minister is going to make following their cabinet meeting. He says as per the requirements of the Master Awards, the final cane payment for the 2022-2023 cane season will be made before 31st October.
Singh says this will be the highest cane payment in the history of the Fiji Sugar Corporation and will encourage more farmers to get into cane farming.
He says by selling sugar itself, they have been able to give farmers a good price.
He says cane production is currently hovering at 1.6 million tonnes and their target is to get about 3.5 million tonnes in the next two years.
In an interview with fijivillage New, Singh says the industry’s focus has to move away from just producing sugar and they have to make aviation ethanol and once it is sold to Fiji Airways, they will be FSC’s main customer.
Singh says this project is expected to start next year.
When questioned on how much return they are expecting from this, Singh says all other major producers are also producing ethanol and he is sure it will also be profitable for FSC.
Singh says once they diversify, FSC will make a turnaround in the next two or three years and before he finishes his 4-year term in government, the sugar price will be about $100 per tonne.
He says a major issue for them is their US$50 million loan from Exim Bank of India as they are paying a lot in interest.
Singh says they are talking with the Indian government to get that loan forgiven and converted to grant and to discuss this with the Indian Prime Minister, he and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka may go to India in January.
He says if this loan is forgiven, then their balance sheet will improve.
Singh says FSC’s balance sheet was not presented to shareholders in the last three years but that has been done now.
FSC sold $209.7 million worth of sugar for the 2022-2023 financial year and sold 1.6 million tonnes of sugar.
When questioned on what is being done to incentivise cane farming, Singh says they have been allocated $50 million in the 2023-2024 financial year and there are 13 new programs including replanting of cane, resolving drainage issues, new culverts, new varieties of sugar cane and farm mechanisation to encourage more farmers to plant cane.
He says at the moment, the government is giving a lot of money to support the farmers to cultivate their farm and bringing in new farmers.
Singh says they are also offering to pay a third of the lease money for farmers whose land leases are about to expire and landowners are demanding a premium where the balance of two-third can be paid in 5 years.
He says another incentive is that if farmers have been given assistance to plant more cane and they produce another tonne then they will be getting an extra $5 bonus on top of the minimum guaranteed price for every extra tonne they produce.
The Minister says they are also negotiating with landowners to release land for farming or get into farming themselves or and get into shared farming.
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