Escalating land rental and lease renewals are the main reasons canefarmers are leaving the industry, says prominent Ba grower Arun Sharma.
He said the next government should look at ensuring farmers are able to secure their land leases and also afford them.
“Renewal of leases is an issue for us,” he said.
“We don’t get enough time to renew our leases and some of us don’t even get the opportunity to extend our lease.
“We need to secure our leases for us to keep farming.”
Mr Sharma said annual land rentals were also rising every year.
“We are already faced with so many expenses — like labour and carting costs.
“Land rentals are too high with some of us not being able to pay it every year.”
He said farmers would look at the political party that would cater the most to their needs.
“There is a lot of promises being made right now but we are very careful about who we will vote for.
“We want leaders that will help resolve these issues that have been around for a long time.”
In its manifesto, the Fiji Labour Party highlighted the party would assist canegrowers with the payment of premiums on land lease renewals.
While the National Federation Party has not released its manifesto as of yet, the party had previously called for the formation of a select parliamentary committee on sugar to address issues plaguing the industry.
