Sugar Cane

Over £3 Per Ton For Sugar Cane Fiji-Indians Benefit By New MOF Sugar Price

THIS year, Fiji Indian cane growers are expected to receive 14/- (Fijian currency) per ton more for their cane than they received last year.

This follows from last month’s announcement that the United Kingdom Ministry of Food would pay £5 12/6 Stg. more per ton for sugar. According to an agreement between tne Colonial Sugar Refin ing Co. and Fiji growers, the price paid for cane is increased when the price of sugar is increased.

It is estimated that the price paid to cane farmers this year will be about 66/-F. per ton.

The average yield per acre in Fiji is 20 tons of cane and the average holding of the Indian cane farmer is 11 acres. Probably no more than six of the acres produce cane in any one year but the new cane price makes the farmer, on local standards, well off.

The new price, theoretically, also makes sugarcane a possible crop for some European farmers with their larger holdings. However, these men would have to solve the labour problem, particularly during the cutting season and, as most European farmers are not near the CSR railway lines, most of the transport would be by lorry to the mills.

In recent years, when cane has been bringing high returns, Indian growers have been extending plant ing away from CSR rail lines. How ever, it is estimated that a road lift of 10 miles is about the economic limit for cane transportation.