Minister Tunabuna confident of sugar sector turnaround

Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Sugar Industry Tomasi Tunabuna is set to meet Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka next week to discuss his plans for the sugar industry, as he expresses confidence that long-standing challenges can be addressed.

Mr Tunabuna, who assumed responsibility for the sugar portfolio following a Cabinet reshuffle on January 19, said lessons from the non-sugar agriculture sector could help guide reforms in the struggling industry.

“I now have a strong belief that we can address the issues we have in the sugar sector simply because we have similar issues,” he said in an interview yesterday.
“I hope we can learn a lot from how we address problems and issues in the non-sugar sector.”

The Minister said he would brief the Prime Minister on his proposed direction for the industry before making any public announcements.

“By next week, I will be more than willing to have an interview just to give a clear indication of the path that we are going to take for sugar,” he said.

Mr Tunabuna, who began his career as an agriculture officer, said sugar had always been an integral part of the agriculture sector.

“The ministry itself used to be the Ministry of Agriculture, Sugar and Land Resettlement,” he said.

He recalled working on the European Union-funded Alternative Livelihood Project during a period when sugar production was higher and the industry faced fewer challenges.

Mr Tunabuna said the ministry aimed to maintain sugar production while making better use of sugar lands to boost agricultural output and reduce reliance on imported fruits and vegetables.

Sugar was once the backbone of Fiji’s economy before tourism overtook it as the country’s main revenue earner.