The Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) has embarked on a financial restructure programme to create a profitable sugar industry and ensure better returns to farmers and landowners.
In response to the 2010 Government’s Budget Revised Address announced last Friday , Fiji Sugar Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Deo Saran, says they expect more land to be available for sugar production now with implementation of the land reform programme.
He said that sugar production forecast for 2010 is less when compared 2009 season . “As a result the FSC has embarked on a major cane replanting program.
“In fact, for the first half of the year, we’ve planted over 3000 hectares of cane . We have a target of planting over 6000 hectares by the end of this year.
“Although we are having a dry spell right now, later in the year when wet weather settles in, we expect to plant the other 3000 hectares to achieve our target,” he said.
Mr. Saran said the Corporation’s decision to reduce its workforce will not affect its operations.
“We’ve already reduced our workforce by over 500 from last year and the remaining workforce would be reduced through outsourcing of non-core activities by rationalizing our tramline network and centralizing our corporate functions.
“At present, it is very decentralized. We would like to move towards a centralized organization,” he said.
He said that with these changes, they expect to save a substantial amount.
“We’ve already targeted of over $16m from last year. With these new measures, further savings will be expected. With the land reforms coming in and more land available for planting and with the streamlined organization, we are very positive that we can bring the production to required levels to allow FSC to operate on a commercial footing.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Saran added that with the mills in the first week of crushing, they certainly expect a much improved crushing season this year compared to previous seasons.
Mr Saran strongly believes that the sugar industry still has an important role to play in the economy and urged the farmers to plant more cane as the capacity of mills to crush cane is more than 4 million tones but current level of cane production is around 2 million tonnes which is 50 percent of the mill throughout requirement.