the ttW

Sugar season left with bitter taste

IT was not a happy 1990 in the Fiji sugar industry. The sugar crushing season in Fiji has been beset with problems. And, since sugar is the key industry in the country, any problems there mean repercussions throughout the economy.

Award problems aroused the most bitter of feelings m the industry with accusations that FSC got the better of the deal The bad feelings exacerbated when S n U s fJ Can< - Gr ° wer f Council lost an "r a A !°" < xu e V e new

b farmers

b°yc°tted FSC and held together even with the forecast of a a- "*>”«' Ine crushing season was, because of the boycott and the drawn-out negotiations which ended it, two months late in getting started. This ’was compounded af severa^of^he 0 FSC• pr( ?f > !f ms

Following farm?

„ r c s • it • , ° r

the ttW

Australia for repairs. n r Gang disputes were next when the cutting and crushing got under way, with much of the problem attributed to the corporations attempt to rationalise and reduce the number of harvesting gangs, There were frequent technical breakdowns at Lautoka and Rarawai mills, and the farmers started to get anxious about the prospect of cane being left still standing after the mill crushing season finished. Farmers complained that the mills were operating at far less than the problems. y Th P n tK P FQP J U r 1 Ihen the FSC announced the fact that world sugar prices had fallen and that the high forecast price mentioned earlier m the season could not be justified, meaning that the third cane payment of H,L S ri eaSOn WOU , d C j nS^ ra ]? ly re " duced or even eliminated. The farmers

countered with the accusation that the mill problems had reduced the sugar yield from the cane crushed, More recent reports have not been encouraging. Labasa Mill reported in early January that, at one stage, crushing had fallen by 40 per cent due to poor cane supply, much of the problem being due to rain and boggy fields. Some Ba farmers resorted to sledges to get their cane out of the fields to the nearest road The lateness of the crushing season meant that man v fieldworkers had gone home for and the New Year before harvesti was c 0 let and many were late returning. At one stage transport. Gangs complained that the wagons were not left at the places they were most needed, \/f;n u c t 0 to the mills, also complainfng that the

Muu 'T* “ T

cause too much of the cane was stale bv : h c C “T U t re ? Ch h ed thC CrUShi "S P‘ a "“ . (Ca " e has lts sugar content early m the season.) The late harvesting has implications for the following season in that ratoon, or re-growth, for 1991 will be reduced because of the necessarily shorter growing period, meaning lower sugar yield.

Labasa Mill was due to close on January 10, but just days before this deadline the National Farmers Union called for an extension to February 15 saying that there was still 150,000 tonnes of cane to be harvested in the mill’s catchment area th Ga "e burning reached an all-time high tbls season, with one mill reporting that at one stage 91 per cent of all cane received had been burned. Burning is normal later in the harvesting season because of the heat and the hornets infesting the cane fields. Some farmers burned more because they feared not having their cane to the mill before the crushing season ended. □