Labasa Mill Opens Today For Crushing
Fiji Sugar Corporation chief operating officer Navin Chandra at a sugarcane farm in Kulukulu, Waiqele, Labasa on May 31, 2017. Photo: Josaia Ralago
The Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) Labasa Mill will be opened today by the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum for another crushing season.
This is projected to be a year of success for the mill as they are looking to crush 800,000 tonnes of cane.
The mill crushed 653,353 tonnes of cane last year.
FSC chief operating officer Navin Chandra said that farmers were excited as they were ready for a new crushing season.
“What we are looking at is the reduction in the tonnes sugarcane needed to make sugar.
“When you have less sugarcane needed to make sugar that is when there is a better yield for sugar,” Mr Chandra said.
“We are definitely looking at an improvement in mill performance and the tonnes of cane to tonnes of sugar (TCTS).
“We are expecting over 800,000 tonnes of sugarcane this year which has improved compared to last year. Sugar is made in the fields which means that is we need fresh green cane delivered to the mill as soon as possible, so a very important requirement is that we need quality cane into the mill.
“Then the milling process has to be very efficient so your boiling process, extraction process has to be efficient so if all work together we can all reach our per tonnes of cane to tonnes of sugar (TCTS) of around 8 to 8.2 this year and our budget is 8.5.”
One particular cane farmer, Mohammed Rafiq of Kulukulu in Waiqele, said he looked forward to this crushing season.
Edited by Jonathan Bryce
And also, this time from Fiji Times
41 harvesters for farms
Luke Rawalai
Friday, June 02, 2017
Friday, June 02, 2017
FORTY-ONE cane harvesters will be deployed to cane farms around the country this year.
Sugar Cane Growers Council chief executive officer Sundresh Chetty said of this, 21 were supported by Government for farmers co-operatives.
Mr Chetty said the rest of the harvesters were either privately owned or owned by other farming bodies.
"In Labasa we currently have nine harvesters and are expecting another five or four harvesters in the next few weeks," Mr Chetty said.
"So this will bring the number of harvesters in the North to about 14.
"It may take some time for the five harvesters to reach our shores because they are being shipped from overseas."
Mr Chetty said Government had allocated $2 million in the 2016/2017 National Budget to help farmers and farmers co-operatives purchase harvesters.
Mr Chetty said canecutters would be utilised where harvesters could not operate, such as on hilly cane farms.
"The idea is that when we provide the harvesters for the flat (farms), canecutters from these areas are freed to work in farms in the hilly areas," he said.
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