[Photo: Supplied]
A shortage of cane harvesters is slowing sugar production at the Lautoka Sugar Mill, with deliveries falling well below the levels needed to keep operations running efficiently.
Fiji Sugar Corporation Lautoka Mill General Manager Iliyaz Khan says the mill is currently receiving only about 2,500 tonnes of cane per day, less than half the 5,000 to 5,500 tonnes required for optimal operations.
Khan says the reduced cane supply is preventing the mill from operating continuously and is driving up production costs.
He says only 125 of the 454 harvesting gangs are currently active, representing just 28 percent of the total workforce.
Khan adds that only 29 percent of rail gangs, 25 percent of manual lorry gangs and 53 percent of billet gangs are operational.
He further notes that just seven percent of the total cane crop has been harvested so far this season.
More than 8,500 tonnes of burnt cane have also been delivered to the mill, accounting for around 50 percent of cane received and further affecting sugar production.
The corporation says the combination of labour shortages, low cane deliveries and burnt cane is placing additional pressure on mill operations and contributing to the current sugar shortage.
“We urgent our farmers, our growers, to come at large so that this mill can continuously run. The factory needs to run continuously, we can’t start-stop the factory. It takes a lot of time to start and stop the factory. It’s a processing factory and came processing is a complex process.”
FSC is urging growers in the Lautoka corridor to increase harvesting and cane deliveries to help the mill operate continuously and improve sugar output.
