Transcript
PUSHP DASS: What they're proposing is they're going to give some money and give a piece of land to somebody.
DON WISEMAN: If they were to get more money, of course, they might have a different view.
PD: Basically this generation who are now leaving the farm, they have no interest in the farm, so I don't think it'll work. How much money would they give - that is another point. They will only give money for cultivation purposes and at this given time, in this generation it is very hard for people to convince them to go back to farming because there are hardly any people left from the previous generation and it's only the new generation what they a saying is that they want o get school leavers and people who are roving around, you know cane cutters want whatever. But it will be very hard to convince them to want to come back to farming.
DW: What's the average age of farmers now?
PD: The average age of farmers now would be about 45.
DW: So people are getting on, aren't they?
PD: Yes. There are hardly any growers who are below the age of 45 that is coming anyway.
DW: So maybe that average is higher than 45. So there is an acceptance across the board that the sugar cane industry is in a crisis situation and you do need more people coming in, so what are the alternatives?
PD: Initially, if you look at Rakiraki for instance the major effort should be put into getting the mill back. That will put confidence into the growers of Rakiraki, and in itself we can see an increase in production, because what is happening now, even though government is subsidising costs to take cane to Rarawaiin Ba, but people are still not interested in continuing family. They want the mill back. They are incurring other costs. They are still paying the 'in field' cost that they used to pay to get to Penang mill [Rakiraki] where it doesn't make much difference.
DW: The industry requires vast amounts of investment. That doesn't seem as though it is likely to come.
PD: The government is pumping in money tot he industry, not to the farmers.
DW: Well you can't do much without raw material.
PD: That's the point. Getting raw material is the priority, [rather than] pumping in money into a company which is insolvent.
DW: This new scheme is going to set a New Farmers Assistance Programme but I think they have allocated the princely sum of $FJ2million dollars towards that, so presumably that is not going to achieve a great deal.
PD: Yeah defintely it won't. They can't just start talking on pen and paper. They have to put down something - talk to the growers first - whether there is still interest there or not; what is the target group. They haven't given us a target group as yet, you know. They think it will happen but I think if you look at it positively I think it is very hard to convince the young, the new generation to come back to cane farming.
DW: What do you say to younger members of your family?
PD: They won't come anyway. The other issue is we still have the land issue, the land crisis in Fiji. It hasn't been established yet. How can we give somebody a piece of land on a 30 year lease and after 30 years take it back like they did before. So it is back to square one.
