Minister for Sugar Charan Jeath Singh says more than 200,000 Fijians rely on the ailing sugar industry as a source of income and there is a need for the organisation to operate as a commercial entity.
Singh highlighted this in Labasa while visiting the FSC staff and management.
He said changes should be expected in the operations of the Fiji Sugar Corporation – from relying heavily on Government funding into an independent commercial entity.
He stressed that there was a need for FSC to make profit to keep itself afloat and a commercial approach is the best way in achieving this.
“We have to make profit, even if we do not make much profit at first, but we do not want Government to keep pouring money into this industry – this industry has to survive and be afloat on its own,” he said.
The Minister said that there were a lot of factors that led to the decrease in productivity and revenue from the industry, and there was a need to address this and this would only be possible through working together.
He continues his tour of the North today with Assistant Minister for Sugar, Jovesa Vocea.
