[Photo: FILE]
The Sugar Cane Growers Council is calling for a seat in the proposed Senate, saying cane farmers need a stronger voice in decisions affecting their livelihoods.
Chief Executive Vimal Dutt made the proposal while presenting the council’s views on the Constitution Amendment Bill to the parliamentary committee.
Dutt said growers’ influence in the sugar industry had weakened over the past two decades, despite their contribution to Fiji’s economic and rural development.
He said the industry now has about 10,500 active cane growers, compared with around 22,000 previously.
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Dutt supported the proposed Senate, saying it could provide another level of scrutiny for legislation and prevent decisions being made without sufficient consultation.
He argued that changes to industry laws and the dissolution of grower institutions without consulting farmers had contributed to the sector’s difficulties.
“So if there would be a nomination from the Sugar Cane Growers’ Council to make up the Senate, this would be very helpful because there is some technical understanding that needs and perhaps that is missing. Because people, when they take up the political career, it is not based on technical or other merits. So it is just a willingness of someone who wants to pursue a political career, it just goes through. So the Senate will need to have some industry mix of people, skill, mindset that will give the country the respective industries more.”
On land security, he proposed a government master lease arrangement to give farmers greater confidence in the industry’s long-term sustainability.
He said stronger security could encourage new growers, including women and young people, to enter cane farming.
Despite the decline in grower numbers, Dutt said the industry’s challenges did not mean it was coming to an end.
He said innovation and new technology could create fresh opportunities, supported by land security and laws that rebuild farmers’ confidence.
The council will provide a comprehensive written submission expanding on its proposals.