The National Farmers Union (NFU) has demanded the immediate release of the Third Cane Payment for the 2025 season after sugarcane farmers nationwide were left waiting despite expectations the payment would be made last Friday. In a strongly worded statement on Monday, the NFU said there had been no announcement from the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) on either the timing or the amount of the payment that growers had anticipated by the end of March.
“Cane farmers nationwide were expecting it to come through yesterday, it being the last Friday of the month,” the union said, underlining the uncertainty now facing producers who depend on regular cane payments. The NFU flagged a number of outstanding entitlements, including a $3-per-tonne top-up for manually harvested cane that was pledged by former sugar minister Charan Jeath Singh, but which has not yet been paid by FSC.
The union also says productivity incentive payments of $5 per tonne — due to growers who produce above their Basic Farm Allotment (BFA) — remain unpaid, and that hundreds of farmers are still owed cane replanting grants. Attempts by the NFU to obtain clarification on the missing payments from the FSC, the Sugar Industry Tribunal and the Sugar Cane Growers Council were unsuccessful, the statement said, adding pointedly: “It seems no one works in their offices on a Friday afternoon.”
NFU president or spokesperson details were not included in the union release, but the union has set a clear demand: all outstanding payments must be settled with the next scheduled cane payment in May 2026. That call effectively gives industry authorities a deadline to clear the arrears or face a further escalation of concerns from growers already grappling with seasonal uncertainty.
The outstanding $3-per-tonne payment for manual harvesters was publicly promised by Charan Jeath Singh when he served as Minister for Sugar, and growers have repeatedly called for pledged top-ups and incentives to be disbursed promptly. Delays to cane payments and incentive arrears have broader consequences for farmers’ cash flow, particularly for smallholders who rely on these receipts to meet living costs and farm maintenance, NFU representatives say.
The NFU’s statement intensifies pressure on FSC and other sector bodies ahead of the May payment cycle. The corporation has not issued a public response to the union’s release. With the next scheduled payment two months away, the union’s demand frames May as a test of whether earlier promises and incentive schemes will be honoured and concludes a period of growing farmer frustration over transparency and timeliness in the sugar sector’s payments system.
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