*Escalating harvesting and transportation cost close to $40 per tonne - 50%.
*Harvesting costs $25
* Transportation costs $15
* Balance $40 for fertilizer, chemicals, labour for planting, weeding
* Profit Margin of $10 per tonne.
Fijileaks: An average farmer with 100 tonnes harvest makes $1000 profit from a year's hard work. If you take out family labour then farmers end up with negative earnings. A message to farmers: plough an acre every year after harvest and substitute with other crops!
Cane farmers plead for change in fertiliser price
Sugarcane farmers complaining about the cost of chemical used in sugar cane field voiced their grievances during a Talanoa session with the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at Koronubu in Ba.
A concerned cane farmer says the government should look into this chemical price increase.
“The government if they could subsidise the chemicals for sugarcane as well as where the prices of chemicals are really very high. I humbly request the honourable Prime Minister to look into this matter seriously so our poor farmers can benefit through the help of the government.”
Fiji Sugar Co-operation CEO Abdul Khan says the government has done everything to cater for the sugar cane farmers.
“Just on sugar cane industry itself, if you go back 5 years from now when you getting about $45 a ton, the cost of your fertilizer, the cost of your weedicides etc was about the same. From $45 with the help of government and through the various re structure that government has put in place is it went to 45 to close to $80 and the year before last, you got paid to close to $89 yet your cost of fertilizer didn’t go up nor did you cost of weedicide. So to make statements like that you really need to substantiate that. So the margins that has gone to the farmers is a lot greater now than it’s had been about 5 years ago.” - See more at: http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/37044/cane-farmers-plead-for-change-in-fertiliser-price#sthash.fu1gbFow.dpuf
Sugarcane farmers complaining about the cost of chemical used in sugar cane field voiced their grievances during a Talanoa session with the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at Koronubu in Ba.
A concerned cane farmer says the government should look into this chemical price increase.
“The government if they could subsidise the chemicals for sugarcane as well as where the prices of chemicals are really very high. I humbly request the honourable Prime Minister to look into this matter seriously so our poor farmers can benefit through the help of the government.”
Fiji Sugar Co-operation CEO Abdul Khan says the government has done everything to cater for the sugar cane farmers.
“Just on sugar cane industry itself, if you go back 5 years from now when you getting about $45 a ton, the cost of your fertilizer, the cost of your weedicides etc was about the same. From $45 with the help of government and through the various re structure that government has put in place is it went to 45 to close to $80 and the year before last, you got paid to close to $89 yet your cost of fertilizer didn’t go up nor did you cost of weedicide. So to make statements like that you really need to substantiate that. So the margins that has gone to the farmers is a lot greater now than it’s had been about 5 years ago.” - See more at: http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/37044/cane-farmers-plead-for-change-in-fertiliser-price#sthash.fu1gbFow.dpuf
