Bill criticised By Felix Chaudhary. The Fiji Times. Saturday, May 14, 2016
ANY legislation that hands over total control of an industry to an organisation that is bankrupt is flawed, says the Fiji Cane Growers Association.
President Attar Singh made the comment while making submissions in Ba to the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs on the Reform of the Sugar Cane Industry Bill.
“This Bill tries to hand over management and control of the industry to an organisation that is bankrupt and cannot even run its own affairs,” he said.
“I heard that FSC has come up with a strategic plan and this will be quite interesting because whatever the FSC has planned to do over the past five years, it has not been able to achieve.
“FSC can’t be trusted and even if FSC could be trusted, the point is the industry should be controlled by farmers.
Mr Singh said the FSC should focus on its core business and on improving performance instead of trying to wrest control of the industry.
“If this Government was serious about improving the industry there would be provisions about improving cultivation methods and things of that sort but there is nothing like that.”
Mr Singh added the Reform of the Sugar Cane Industry Bill and Sugar Cane Growers Fund Amendment Bill should either be withdrawn or delayed to allow for widespread consultation.
The Bill provides for reforms aimed at rejuvenating the industry.
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