The Sugar Cane Growers Fund (SCGF) has activated a fuel crisis assistance plan effective May 18, offering expedited loans to cane growers to help cover rising fuel costs and related harvesting expenses. SCGF chairman Marika Luveniyali urged existing clients to contact their SCGF officers directly by mobile phone to request support, saying applications will be processed promptly and funds released the same day through the M-PAiSA e‑wallet platform.
“Applications will be processed promptly and once approved, growers will only need to sign the offer documents,” Luveniyali said, underlining the fund’s move to shorten turnaround times for cash-strapped farmers. He added that approved loans will be disbursed on the same day via M-PAiSA, a digital wallet service widely used in Fiji for rapid payments.
The SCGF currently supports 4,032 growers across the three main mill catchments, from an industry base of more than 10,000 cane farmers. The breakdown of growers on the fund’s books is 927 in the Lautoka Mill area, 1,827 in the Rarawai Mill catchment in Ba, and 1,278 in the Labasa region. The new fuel assistance is therefore available to a subset of the industry already linked into SCGF services, with the fund encouraging others to join its loan scheme.
As of April 2026 the SCGF’s total outstanding grower loans amounted to $36.4 million. By mill region, loans stood at $8.2 million for Lautoka growers, $14.23 million for those in the Rarawai area, and $13.98 million for Labasa clients. The latest injection of emergency fuel support is intended to sit alongside these existing lending facilities and ease immediate liquidity pressures for growers preparing for field operations.
The assistance plan arrives against a backdrop of continuing strain in Fiji’s sugar sector. Over the last year growers have faced a string of setbacks — from extensive pre-season burnt cane to the Rarawai Mill fire — that disrupted harvesting, reduced incomes and prompted earlier government and industry relief measures. The SCGF previously moved quickly to provide fee waivers and emergency aid when mills were incapacitated, and this fuel loan initiative is the fund’s latest tool to help growers manage operational costs.
Luveniyali also said the SCGF is pursuing broader institutional changes to improve its role in the industry. A proposed review of the SCGF Act is currently before the ministry; the chairman said the review aims to strengthen governance, accountability, sustainability and expansion opportunities “within Fiji’s financial ecosystem.” That legislative review, if progressed, could reshape the fund’s reach and governance as it seeks to extend services to more growers beyond the current 4,032 clients.
Growers interested in the fuel crisis assistance are being told to call their SCGF officer on the mobile numbers already provided by the fund. Once applications are approved, the requirement will be a signature on offer documents before same‑day release of funds via M-PAiSA, according to Luveniyali.