THE Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) strongly supports the views expressed by Ba’s leading sugarcane farmer and former Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) board member Arvind Singh who has called on the industry’s movers and shakers to implement cost-cutting measures to revive the ailing industry.

NCCI president Dr Ram Raju said the sugar industry was in a deplorable state today because of years of neglect and mismanagement.

“We fully agree with what Arvind Singh has highlighted in the media and the time to take action is now,” Dr Raju said.

He said while many well-established businesses and property landlords had emerged out of the sugar industry during its heydays, it was sad how things had turned out for the past 20 years.

“There is no doubt that sugar prices keep dwindling and are very unstable in the world market due to oversupply and declining demand but this does not mean our industry cannot be returned back to profitability.”

He said it would be more efficient to have well-maintained state-of-the-art sugar mills on Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

“Two modern mills which are operated in a cost-effective and efficient manner with minimal costs should be enough for a small country like Fiji, which harvest just around a million tonnes of sugarcane with 10,500 active cane farmers.

“It would be nice to think commercially and do away with small, mismanaged farms by combining resources and looking at creating bigger and better farms as well.”

•  Shalendra Prasad is a freelance writer based in Nadi.

NOTE: This article was first published in the print edition of the Fiji Times dated FEBRUARY 20, 2025.