The Sugar Cane Growers Council says while the prolonged dry spell had an impact on its crushing targets they were happy to note the stand over cane in two West mills was low.

Labasa Sugar Mill together with Penang Mill in Rakiraki has completed their crushing season while the Lautoka and Rarawai Mill in Ba are still in the process.

Labasa mill ended with a total crush of 544,148 tonnes while Penang did 170,592 tonnes.

Council chief executive Sundresh Chetty said: “We are happy that stand over cane in these two mill areas is very less compared to last season which indicates that growers had put in their best efforts to harvest and deliver their crops to the mills.

“The expectations for the industry were two million tonnes but due to the pro long dry spell that we are experiencing in the Western and Northern division the crop has gone down.

“There is a decline in crop due to the weather condition and we are expecting to finish this season with little less than 1.8 million tonnes,” he said.

In view of the prolonged dry weather, the industry hopes that there will be allocation for them in next year’s budget.

“We are hopeful that there will be more allocation for next year’s budget especially for cane planting, as the amount allocated for this season will be fully utilized by the end of the year should there be more rain in the coming weeks.

“There has been more new planting all throughout the 38 cane sectors compared to the past years. There has been more interest generated and the confidence level of the famers has gone up which indicates that cane has brighter future” he said.

He urged all farmers to ensure that there are no standing crops at the end of this crushing season.

“From now till the end of this season I would like to urge all farmers in Rarawai and Lautoka mill areas to ensure that all the standing crops on their farms are harvested and delivered to the mill.

“So that farmers can reap maximum benefit from what has been provided by the industry,” Mr Chetty said.

Termination dates for the two mills will be confirmed once Fiji Sugar Corporation makes submission to the Tribunal where discussions will take place before final dates are announced.

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