Data shared by the Ministry of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics suggest that more than 74% of the sugarcane farmers are above the age of 50, reports Fiji Times.
As per the Fiji Sugar Corporation, there were 11,429 active sugarcane farmers in 2021 and the number has been reduced to 10,827 in 2022. The Sugar Cane Growers Fund (SCGF) has details of 6005 farmers, which is 50% of the active farmers in Fiji.
As per the record of SCGF, 885 farmers were above 70 years old, 1345 were between 60 and 70 years, 1627 were between the ages of 50 and 60 and 968 were between 40 and 50 and 464 were below 40 years old.
Farmers below 40 produced 57,101 tonnes of sugarcane while those between 40 and 50 produced 138,308 tonnes of sugarcane in 2022.
The most productive farmers were in Labasa which produced 217,972 tonnes of cane in 2021 followed by Ba, where farmers produced 206,145 tonnes of cane, as per the Ministry of Economy.
