How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm

from w
I'm not surprised that men and women do not want to work in the canefields these days. The farmers are finding it hard to get labourers up in babasiga land to cut the cane.  Our family usually get a band of relatives from Bua or Mali  Island to spend a  few days/weeks at Vatuadova or nearby, and they get fed and sheltered and a small wage. But many farmers are having difficulty getting cane gangs.

From today's Fiji Times.

Labourers lose interest

Luke Rawalai
Saturday, July 13, 2013

NORTHERN cane farmers continue to face difficulty acquiring labourers.

National Farmers Union president Surendra Lal said the farmers have difficulty finding labourers because they were demanding and were a financial burden.

Mr Lal said canecutting was tedious work and people had begun to lose interest.

"Compared to the old days, Indian extended families used to live together under the same roof, farming in a large unit and making the task easier for farmers," he said.

"Now times have changed, people are shouldering the workload individually and it is tougher for farmers.

"I think that if the industry is to be revived, the government has to mechanise the industry and introduce cane harvesting machines."

Mr Lal said the infrastructure needed to be changed because most of it were from the colonial days.

"We need to also change the infrastructure we have in order to improve the performance of the industry."

Macuata provincial administrator Josefa Rokonai said they were playing their part by speaking to provincial offices in Bua, Macuata and Cakaudrove seeking people interested in cutting cane this season.

"Some have come and have shown their interest to cut cane while others are making their own arrangements. We are all doing our part in trying to get as many labourers as we can for the farmers."