One of the mechanical cane harvester brought in by Fiji Sugar Corporation. Photo: Sheik Dean
Investment to address issues surrounding labour shortage to act as a substitute
RACHNA LAL
SUVA
Fiji Sugar Corporation has purchased the much-talked about mechanical cane harvester with the intention for it to be used this season.
Executive chairman, Abdul Khan, said the mechanical harvesters are in the corporation’s shed in Lautoka and they are making sure it is all fine before the trial.
“We bought two. One is a harvester that harvests billet cane. Billet cane is sugarcane that is about 300 mm long,” he said.
“Our second harvester is what we call Whole Stick Harvester. So it harvests the whole length of the cane as one piece rather than chopping it up into 300 mm.”
This news comes as the mills are being prepared for the cane processing season in mid-June.
How will it work?
Mr Khan said they are going to start off with the trial in the Lautoka area using these mechanical cane harvesters.
“And then if it works out, we will be either purchasing more or getting interested parties to purchase similar machine,” he said.
Mr Khan said it would be easy to get these harvesters to harvest cane fields which are levelled. However, he said the issue in Fiji is a good percentage of our lands are uneven or rather undulating.
“So what we want to do is try this on the undulating land to make sure that it can still harvest on those lands, hence the reason why we’re doing this trial,” he said.
The Fiji Sugar Corporation is also employing someone for two years out of Queensland, Australia.
Mr Khan said this person’s job would be nothing but to get our land prepared for mechanical harvesting and making sure that we teach our drivers how to operating harvesters safely.
Cost to farmers
Bringing the mechanical harvesters has been quite a significant investment for the corporation.
So what FSC will do is work out a cost which will become the base cost for harvesting for farmers wanting to have their cane mechanically harvested.
“It may be on a per tonne basis or it may on a per acre basis,” he said.
And whilst there may be some objection to this sort of technology, Mr Khan has stressed the mechanical harvesters is not a replacement for labour shortage.
“It’s actually going to be a substitute for the constraints we’ve got in the area,” he said.
Feedback: rachnal@fijisun.com.fj
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