Bid to get farmers back into cane farming

Commissioner Western Commander Joeli Cawaki meets industry in Ba and check preparations
JYOTI PRATIBHA
NADI
The Committee for Better Utilisation of Lands has moved its focus on farmers who are no longer planting cane and those who have decreased their farming capacity.
This is in a bid to see how best these farmers can be assisted to get back into cane farming.
Commissioner Western Commander Joeli Cawaki was in Ba yesterday with his team and representatives from the committee to meet with Ba farmers and also check on preparations for this crushing season.
Commander Cawaki said this year 2.1 million tonnes of cane are being forecasted to be crushed.
He said while there was an increase compared to last year, there was still a need to get farmers back into cane farming.
A lot of farmers moved away from cane farming because of their hesitation to invest heavily in their cane farms when given 30 year agricultural lease.
However, now, with new policy in place, which provides farmers lease from 60 years onwards, there has been renewed interest in farmers to get back into cane production.
Government’s incentives in subsidising cane cutting and transportation has also been well-received by farmers.
Commander Cawaki said the Committee for Better Utilisation of Lands members would be meeting next week to discuss the progress they have made on cane farming and other areas of better land utilisation.
Members of Committee for Better Utilisation of Lands include Fiji Cane Growers Council chief executive Sundresh Chetty, iTaukei Land Trust Board and other stakeholders.
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