SUVA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The signing of two grant agreements on fertilizer and weedicide subsidy between the Fijian government and the South Pacific Fertilizers Limited (SPFL) will ensure cane farmers maximise sugarcane yield in Fiji.
The grant agreements were signed between the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Sugar Yogesh Karan and SPFL board member, Sundresh Chetty in Suva, capital of Fiji on Wednesday.
At the signing ceremony, Karan said that the Fijian government had subsidised fertilizer cost since 2009 to encourage and ensure that growers applied the recommended quantity of fertilizer in cane fields and keep the industry sweet.
The Fijian government increased its subsidy this year by 82 percent and the government had backdated the new fertilizer subsidy rate to Jan. 1, 2017.
Karan said that the Fijian government introduced Weedicide Subsidy program with a budgetary allocation of 6.3 million Fijian dollars (about 3.13 million U.S. dollars) in the 2017-2018 financial year.
"From August 1, 2017, the Fijian government provides 55 percent subsidy while growers pay 45 percent of the price of the four recommended weedicide on sugarcane fields. These are Diuron WDG80, Valpar King, Glyphosate and 2D Amine 270," Karan said.
He said that with the increase in usage of fertilizer by the growers and the introduction of new weedicide subsidy, the sugar production in the island nation was expected to increase in 2018.
Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) is the government-owned sugar milling company with monopoly on production of raw sugar. It is also the largest public enterprise in Fiji and employs nearly 3,000 people, while another 200,000 of the total population of more than 880,000 depend on it for their livelihood in rural sugar cane belts of Fiji.
Fiji once had the largest sugar mill in the southern hemisphere.
In December last year, Fijian Prime Minister and Minister for Sugar Voreqe Bainimarama said that Fiji was seeking alternative markets for sugar in response to the removal of the European Union's domestic production quotas.
Bainimarama said the sugarcane production is expected to rise to around 3.9 million tonnes over the next five years to more closely match the crushing capacity of Fiji's sugar mills.
