Discussions on purchase options to start soon
Tomasi Ciriwai, of Sabeto, Nadi, hard at work harvesting sugarcane. The Fiji Sugar Corporation is urging cane farmers and cutters to keep constant cane supply. Photo: SHEIK DEAN
By RACHNA LAL
The Fiji Sugar Corporation is looking to bring in at least one mechanical harvester by the tail end of this sugarcane processing season on a trial basis.
Executive chairman, Abdul Khan, confirmed this but said it would depend if they are able to get one out of Queensland, Australia, in such a short timeframe.
“What we are looking to do at the moment is mechanical harvesting and the transport system,” he said.
“We want to bring in harvesters that will not only work on flat land but also some of our inclined terrain.”
Mr Khan said they know some of these machines exist in Queensland because it operates in terrains similar to Fiji.
“So what we want to do is hopefully get one of those across to Fiji and trial it here. If it works out, we can get more,” he said.
“We are in the process of discussing it with a number of people in Queensland at the moment and nothing is finalised at the moment.”
Labour issues
Mr Khan said one of the major reason they were looking to buy these mechanical harvesters was because there are real issues getting labour to harvest sugarcane.
“There are mechanical harvesters operating in Fiji at the moment,” he said.
“But the issue is these mechanical harvesters are only good for clean flat land. They are not suitable for the type of terrain that we have.
“That is why FSC is getting involved because what we want to do is trial the machine that is involved.
“Once we trial them, then it will be available for all farmers.”
These already-existing mechanical harvesters in Fiji does not belong to FSC.
Mr Khan said these mechanical harvesters will assist in both harvesting and transporting cane.