Sugar Tribunal Registrar urges overhaul of Fiji's sugar farming model

Fiji’s sugar industry must move away from small-scale farming and adopt larger commercial farming models if it is to remain viable, Sugar Industry Tribunal Registrar Timothy Brown says.

Speaking at a parliamentary Standing Committee meeting on the sugar industry at the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) Training Centre in Lautoka yesterday, Mr Brown said the sector could no longer rely on farming methods that had remained largely unchanged for decades despite major shifts in rural demographics and labour availability.

He said many cane farms were now only two to four acres in size, making it increasingly difficult for growers to earn sustainable incomes even when cane prices increased.

“There is no labour on the farms anymore. Families have changed, people are no longer living on the farms, and we have to rethink how this industry should exist,” he said.

“We need Government to take a serious look at the subdivision of good agricultural land and find ways to preserve it for farming.”

Mr Brown said that as of June, 13,785 growers were registered, but only 10,365 were actively producing cane, while 3520 were recorded as nil producers.

He proposed consolidating idle cane land into commercial farms of about 1500 acres to improve productivity and efficiency.

Mr Brown also called for the re-establishment of a central coordinating body similar to the former Sugar Commission, stronger marketing arrangements, and reviewing the Sugar Cane Growers Council to ensure growers elected their own representatives.