Labasa Cane Producers Association (LCPA) will roll out their assistance to the farmers staring tomorrow with the distribution of weedicide subsidiary.
The five-day distribution is allocated at a rate of 50 cents per tonne.
Association executive manager and environment officer Ravneel Raj said they have been providing the weedicide subsidiary to the farmers from 2012.
“All those years the rate was from 40 cents to 45 cents per tonne,” Mr Raj said.
“This year there has been an increase in line with our budget so we thought of providing extra allocation to the farmers.
“Which means the farmers will be in a better position to buy more weedicide to manage their farm especially the husbandry practices.
“Distribution will be made from sector offices,” he said.
However, those farmers who have been suspended due to major or minor non compliances won’t be liable for the benefit, says Mr Raj.
Labasa Cane Producers Association’s had also assisted farmers with the distribution of harvesting tools.
Meanwhile the Association has recently noted an increased number of sugarcane farmers in Vanua Levu.
Mr Raj said this was after they carried out an assessment.
“We send our inspectors out to the field to inspect farms and we have to work within the strict budget allocated for each farm.
“When we realised that we had busted our budget of $30,000 then we carried out an assessment and found out that there were now more farms.”
He said now there are more than 4,000 farmers in Vanua Levu.
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