“Tell me who in the government is responsible for cutting allocations for the Sugar Industry in the National Budget.”
SODELPA MP, Niko Nawaikula posed this question to government members and demanded an answer while speaking on the motion in the budget committee of supply in parliament.
Nawaikula brought this issue when National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad moved a motion to increase the capital grant for sugar development by $30 million.
Prasad had stated that while the overall sugar budget shows an increase this year due to allocation of $30 million for the Sugar Stabilization Fund to guarantee $85 per tonne cane price for three years, the actual allocation to expand the industry has declined.
An example was given by the Opposition where the Sugarcane Development Farmers Assistance for cane planting was allocated $15.4 million in the 2018-2019 National Budget which was reduced to $4 million in the 2019-2020 National Budget.
In response, Prime Minister and Minister for Sugar, Voreqe Bainimarama revealed that there is a hidden figure of about $20 million that they have not mentioned in the National Budget for the Sugar Industry.
Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum then told parliamentarians that Nawaikula has neglected the fact that Cyclone Winston had damaged a lot of cane farms and they had assisted cane farmers through the payment of their leases.
Meanwhile, SODELPA MP, Viliame Gavoka says they will continue to question why funds are diverted towards the sugar industry if the industry continues to fail.
Gavoka says if the industry continues to fail, it will turn people away and there will be a demand to divert funds into non sugar areas.
He says they want the sugar industry to recover but government has to up its act.
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