Transcript
PUSHP DASS: Our backbone, our bread and butter, has been sugar cane. And [if the] sugar industry goes down, Rakiraki will not be Rakiraki anymore.
DON WISEMAN: The cane growers though are able to transport their crops to other mills aren't they?
PD: We have had the opportunity to take the crop to the Rarawai mill which is in Ba last season and we have been paid some money for transportation. But needless to say how long will the government pay that money. That is another question that we have in our minds. They might pay it this year, pay it next year. After the election, if they are not there, if another government comes in,, what will happen. Even if this government is there, if they stop paying, how will we take our crop to the other mills. The corporation and the government have been putting in a lot of money and asking growers to plant. We did everything to increase production. Our production last year was around 90,000 tonnes. This year we are expecting more than 200,000 tonnes around Rakiraki. Where will that cane go to?
DW: But the company says it is uneconomic to restore the mill, so what do you do about that?
PD: The issue is when after Cyclone Winston, that is the time they started putting on reverse gear. Before that they said they were putting up a syrup mill. In Cyclone Winston the mill was not damaged, it was just the structure that was damaged. The mill was intact. After that the corporation has taken away parts to other mills. And now they are saying it is uneconomic. I think if the feasibility study of that mill was down last year when the PM was here, in June I think, and he said he is going to do a feasibility study and say how much it was going to cost. That was not done. That was not and now they are saying it will cost us $50,000,000 dollars [$US24,000,000]. I think and I feel and I am pretty sure that if the feasibility study was done immediately after Cyclone Winston the cost would have been just $5,000,000. And taking cane to Rarawai has, i think, cost more than that. They have paid $340,000 to the contractor who was re-loading cane from Penang mill tot he trucks to take it it to Ba. So if you look at the entire cost, that cost has been more. And if the feasibility would have been done and things taking place then, we wouldn't have seen this situation now.
DW: Do you think the farmers growing cane in the Rakiraki area will continue to grow cane or are they going to do something else?
PD: I think if the mill doesn't come up or if there isn't anything done in the next few years - there is an election in 2018 - if things will change, even if things won't change, farmers have said they will not grow sugar cane anymore. They will revert to other things where they can get money from. you know it is very costly. From Penang Mill it is 45 kilometres people plant cane and from Penang Mill to Rarawai is about 60 kilometres. You can't get cane from 100 kilometres away, incurring a lot of costs, where there is no assistance. I know the assistance is there now. As I said earlier whether that assistance will continue in years to come is yet to be seen.
