NFU shocked at scrapping of Growers Council

[posted 17 Aug 2009,1515}

The National Farmers Union is shocked and troubled at the interim government’s unilateral decision to dismantle the Sugar Cane Growers Council.

“The move will completely marginalise the growers because they now have no representation in an industry in which they have a 70% stake,” NFU general secretary Mahendra Chaudhry said.

Mr Chaudhry said the union will oppose the government move. “NFU will make representation to the relevant Ministry. It is quite obvious that the interim government has been badly advised on this matter.

“The sugar industry is a partnership between the miller and the growers. How can the growers be completely sidelined from decision making in an industry in which they are majority stakeholders? Government has obviously not realised the consequences of this arbitrary move,” Mr Chaudhry said.

It jeopardises the stability and future viability of the sugar industry with dire consequences to the economy in general. It will also adversely affect the landowners who receive substantial rental revenue from sugar cane farms.

NFU sees recent developments in the sugar industry with the arbitrary dismantling of important institutions set up under the Sugar Industry Act of 1984 (the Sugar Commission of Fiji, the Sugar Cane Growers Council and the Fiji Sugar Marketing) in recent months, as some kind of         neo-colonialism.

Far reaching decisions are being taken without any consultation with the stakeholders. The sugar industry is well and truly being reverted to the days of the Colonial Sugar Refining Co (CSR) with the authoritarianism, exploitation and repression associated with the CSR. Are farmers being pushed to serve another Girmit?

The repression has already begun with FSC adopting an autocratic attitude and withholding vital information from the growers and their representatives; sugar shipments are not being fully met and FSC’s chronic milling inefficiencies have already cost growers’ millions of dollars in lost revenue this season.

Farmers are already being cheated right, left and centre. Given this latest imposition on their rights, the future of the industry becomes highly uncertain.

NFU is reliably informed that the so-called “local/expatriate” consultants recruited from Australia in December last year are behind this move – the interim government is working in line with a report submitted by these ‘consultants’ last December.

Well informed sources in the industry say that at least two of the consultants, high up in the FSC hierarchy at the time, were not happy with the changes contained in the 1984 Sugar Industry Act.

Obviously not! Because reforms ushered in under the 1984 Act introduced the concept of industry partnership and ensured FSC was made accountable to the growers and other stakeholders for its actions.

An unstable sugar industry is definitely in the interest of these consultants because the more problems the industry faces, the more entrenched their lucrative consultancy becomes. The powers that be, including FICAC, should investigate how these “expatriates” are milking FSC. Apart from their highly excessive fees, there are other expensive perks including very frequent trips to Australia and back.