The Executive Chairman of Fiji Sugar Corporation Abdul Khan has said they are seeing that farmers are harvesting cane in Labasa as crushing starts tomorrow at the Labasa Sugar Mill.
Khan said they are preparing with cane farmers for the harvesting season.
He said they are receiving positive feedback from the farmers and there no real issues affecting harvesting.
Khan said this year will be a difficult year after Tropical Cyclone Winston and they are expecting to crush about 1.5 million tonnes of sugarcane and produce in excess of about 170,000 tonnes of sugar.
Crushing at the Lautoka Sugar Mill will start on the 19th of next month while crushing at Rarawai Mill will start on the 20th.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union said Labasa cane growers are demanding an additional $10 a tonne cane payment to begin harvesting for the 2016 season.
NFU General Secretary Mahendra Chaudhry said that about 500 growers have told the union that they did not have the funds to commence harvesting from yesterday because of the low 4th cane payment of $11.12 a tonne.
When questioned by Fijivillage on whether this is a harvest boycott, Chaudhry said that this is not the case.
He said less than 30 percent of the farmers in Labasa have sent in their Memorandum of Gang Agreements, and harvesting is just a trickle at the moment with only 20 trucks and 35 rail trucks that delivered cane after two days of harvesting.
The CEO of the Sugar Cane Growers Council Sundresh Chetty said harvesting has started in most parts the sugarcane belt areas in Labasa.
Chetty said he does not have the exact numbers of the gangs that have started harvesting cane, but he is receiving positive response from the ground.
He said the Labasa Sugar Mill will start crushing tomorrow as scheduled.
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