No STATE subsidy for Kavanagasau cane farmers

[posted 2 Oct 2009,13.30]

The $20 per tonne subsidy for cane farmers in the Kavanagasau area who transport their cane by lorry to the Lautoka Mill, will come from sugar industry funds and not the State as (mis)reported in The Fiji Times today.

The statement by Ministry of Agriculture permanent secretary Mason Smith that the State will provide the $20 subsidy to farmers in the area, is not true.

The NFU is reliably informed that the total cost of the subsidy will be deducted from the proceeds of sugar as an industry cost before it is allocated to FSC and the growers. Cane growers will bear 70% of this cost.

The interim government must stop hoodwinking the people, and cane farmers in particular.

Furthermore, the subsidy is inadequate, because the total cartage cost to a farmer forced to take his cane to Lautoka Mill by lorry will be $35 per tonne.

As for government’s decision not to repair the broken bridge, this is unfortunate because if EU funding under the sugar industry reform programme had been available, this could have been used to repair the bridge as there was provision under it for infrastructure development.

The EU has suspended assistance to Fiji pending a return to democratic and constitutional rule.