Caption: Sugarcane on its way to the Lautoka mill, the Fiji Sugar Corporation has brought in another seven locomotives to assist in transporting cane to the mills.Photo:SUPPLIED.
The purchase of new locomotives will reduce the waiting time to transport sugarcane to mills across the country and in turn, increase crushing capacity.
The Fiji Sugar Corporation recently purchased seven new locomotives to reduce the burden on cane farmers to transport sugarcane to mills. The new purchase is also intended to improve efficiency by transporting more sugarcane at a faster pace to mills.
FSC executive chairman Abdul Khan says this latest development would also mean less reliance on vehicles to transport sugarcane.
“We were initially to have bought only three however, we ended up buying seven altogether and this would greatly bring efficiency to the transportation of yields to the mills,” Mr Khan said.
“Currently, we heavily rely on trucks and this causes traffic jams in the major centres of Ba, Lautoka, Nadi, Sigatoka, and Labasa especially in the peak hours of the day. So the purchase of these locomotives will not only speed up transportation of cane but also reduce travelling time on our roads for motorists.”
He says that transportation of cane has been a major problem for farmers who find it costly and time consuming to transport sugarcane to mills.
“FSC has taken over the transportation of cane to the mills and all these procurements have been made in line with the demands of the industry,” Mr Khan said.
The Ministry of Sugar director Viliame Gucake says this purchase by the FSC is a move that will benefit Fiji’s sugar industry.
“We have seen our figures increasing since Government introduced the reforms and 2015 is an exciting year that the whole industry with its 200, 000 people are looking forward to,” Mr Gucake said.
DEPTFO