Canegrowers have been seeking assistance from Government for the rehabilitation of their farms, says assistant Minister for Sugar George Vagnathan.
Mr Vagnathan, who has been touring the Western Division over the past few days, explained that the ministry would consult with the relevant sugar industry stakeholders to assist farmers in their recovery efforts.
“The cane harvesting season is starting soon so we have to prepare them for that,” he said.
“If there are issues that they may have then we will have to address them to the best of our ability.”
He said during their talanoa sessions with farmers they were able to find out issues that needed to be addressed before the new crushing season.
“Basically, most of their concerns were to do with infrastructure that was damaged in the recent floods.
“This is my seventh or eighth talanoa session with the farmers and I can see the damage to the roads, the bridges and crossings.
“It’s really sad to see that we have lost so many crossings and roads due to these floods which again are caused by the increased amount of rain that we are experiencing now.
“This, of course, is a result of climate change.
“From Government’s side, I am pretty certain that the Ministry of Waterways is doing their part to address the flooding issues and we will do our part and plan and see how best we can help our farmers and the community at large.”
He said more consultations would be carried out with farmers alongside stakeholders from the Sugar Cane Growers Council, the Sugar Research Institute of Fiji and the Sugar Cane Growers Fund.
