There have been some mismanagement and abuse of funds that have been directed towards cane access roads - Karan

The Permanent Secretary for Sugar, Yogesh Karan has revealed that there has been some mismanagement and abuse of funds that have been directed towards cane access roads, and there are also some cheaters.

Karan says he also expects more honesty from the sub contractors of the Fiji Sugar Corporation as government is directly funding a number of projects.

Government has provided $14.4 million since 2016 for cane access roads.

While officially opening the 2020 crushing season at the Labasa Sugar Mill today, Karan also highlighted that government has provided $47 million over the last three years for the cane planting scheme and 35 percent of the funds were given to sugarcane farmers in Labasa.

Karan says there have been some dishonest farmers who have taken the grant but not looked after their farms.

Karan adds that the FSC has spent $4 million in preparing the three sugar mills and he is expecting very little and or no break-downs of sugar mills this season.

Karan says because of the damage done by Tropical Cyclone Harold, they are expecting to crush 1.84 million tonnes of cane and Labasa Mill is expected to crush 662,000 tonnes of cane.