Peceli Naviticoko 
The quality and volume of sugar will not improve solely due to a well-performing mill; it also requires good quality and a high volume of cane.
This was the key message from Commissioner Northern Uraia Rainima, delivered during the opening of the 2024 cane crushing season.
Rainima emphasizes that cane quality is critical for improving sugar production.
He adds that this year’s target is to harvest around 570,000 tonnes of cane from 11,716.10 hectares around Labasa.
He emphasizes that cane quality is critical for improving sugar production this season, with additional government plans for the industry’s future.
“We talked about buying the content of sugar on your cane rather than the weight of the cane, but there are other thoughts about it. These thoughts and ideas need to be quickly addressed, as we must all focus on our market and the value of our products. Everything should be market-driven.”
Rainima adds that also part of the industry plans is the eradication of all unapproved varieties by 2026, diversification through co-generation, ethanol, and refined sugar, large-scale farming to increase production, upgrading of factories to improve mill efficiency, and upgrading of railway networks to assist farmers, especially in Wainikoro and Daku.
The industry is now focusing on improving sugar production, learning from past differences that have drastically affected performance and cost the industry a lot.
