Timely assistance from China

Submitted by TemoL on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:18am

Primary Industries Minister, Joketani Cokanasiga received on behalf of the Government of Fiji, 600 tonnes of NPK fertiliser from the Government of China at the South Pacific Fertilisers Limited headquarters in Lautoka today.

“On behalf of the Prime Minister, I would like to extend our appreciation to the Government of the People’s Republic of China for their kind and timely assistance, which we have already begun providing to our sugar and non-sugar sectors of agriculture,” said Mr. Cokanasiga.

“This valuable assistance is testimony of the continuing commitment by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to help Fiji Agriculture and sugar sectors and is also testimony to its commitment to strengthen its bilateral ties with Fiji.”

The sharp rise in world fertiliser prices in 2008 and in early 2009 has resulted in an increased cost of local blended fertilisers to a level which discouraged both the sugar-cane and non-sugarcane farmers.

“To add to this, the sharp decline in EU prices of our sugar export, by 36 per cent in 2009 compounded the problem, thus our sugar cane farmers in particular, faced serious problems in maintaining their production outputs,” added Mr Cokanasiga.

In April 2009, Government took the decision to support cane farmers by providing monetary support to subsidise sugarcane blends by $14.09 per 50 kilogramme bag.

Cane farmers also had to pay an additional $12.00 per bag to meet the increased cost so Government had decided to provide this support for two years in 2009 and in 2010 at a cost of $9.8 million per each year.

“You will recall the devastating floods in early 2009 and recently the Tropical Cyclone Mick which has caused severe damages to the nation in terms of flooding destroying crops and livestock, damages to infrastructure, loss of lives etc.”

“Because of all that they endured after the floods, Government has decided that 50 per cent of the fertiliser gift from the People’s Republic of China should be utilized in the non-sugar to help lift production and it’s timely arrival will greatly assist in the recovery of our agricultural production especially after Tropical Cyclone Mick,” explained Mr Cokanasiga.

The initial 600 tonnes of fertilisers have been distributed across Vanua Levu as well as Viti Levu. The second consignment of 600 tonnes which was received today will be distributed to the sugar-cane sector, especially to those cane farmers that are currently involved in inter-cropping.

The next cane planting programme is scheduled for April/May 2010 and the NPK fertiliser which is part of this consignment will be used for intercropping with newly planted cane.

The first shipment of 600 tonnes which had already arrived makes the total aid donated by the Chinese Government to 1,200 tonnes.