Cane fire destroys $20,000 nursery, hits farmers’ supply
Futuristic Farms director Balbir Singh claimed the fire started in a neighbouring sugarcane field at Balata 2, Texas, in Tavua, at about 6am yesterday before spreading onto the farm and destroying two large nurseries.
Monday 20 July 2026 | 07:30
Futuristic Farms director Balbir Singh claimed the fire started in a neighbouring sugarcane field at Balata 2, Texas, in Tavua, at about 6am yesterday before spreading onto the farm and destroying two large nurseries.
An alleged cane field fire has destroyed about $20,000 worth of grafted seedlings at a Tavua nursery, disrupting supplies of faster-producing fruit plants relied on by farmers across Fiji.
Futuristic Farms director Balbir Singh claimed the fire started in a neighbouring sugarcane field at Balata 2, Texas, in Tavua, at about 6am yesterday before spreading onto the farm and destroying two large nurseries.
The blaze wiped out grafted lemon and mandarin plants and seedling stock, dealing a major setback to the farm’s efforts to supply growers with improved planting material.
Related stories
Mr Singh said the loss would affect the farm’s ability to provide grafted plants designed to reduce the time farmers wait for fruit production.
“The nursery contained grafted plants which retail from $50 to $150 a plant and take around one year to grow,” he said.
“We are an innovative farm, and these grafted plants were developed to reduce the waiting period for farmers. Traditional seedlings grown from seeds can take five to eight years to produce fruit, but these grafted plants in our nursery could produce fruit within six months.”
Mr Singh said rebuilding the destroyed stock would take time and would affect supplies in the months ahead.
He claimed the fire began after someone lit a fire in the neighbouring cane field.
“Someone had lit a fire in my neighbour’s sugarcane field, and through that, our two nurseries were burnt down,” he said.
Mr Singh said the fire also endangered lives as his parents and a neighbour battled the blaze in an effort to save the business.
“I came face to face with death. As we fought to save our nurseries from the raging fire, I became trapped in thick smoke. For a moment, I could barely breathe and felt as though my heart was giving up. I truly believed I might not make it out alive.”
“We may have lost two nurseries, but I was given something far more precious, my life, and for that, I will remain forever grateful to God,” he said.
Mr Singh thanked his neighbour’s son, Pritesh Lakhan, for helping his family fight the fire.
He said Futuristic Farms would lodge a complaint with the Fiji Police Force seeking an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Despite the setback, Mr Singh said the company would rebuild and continue supplying farmers throughout Fiji.
