The European Union (EU) funded Training Support to the Sugar Industry project has rolled out a series of “Farming as a Business” workshops to enhance the business development and financial management capacities of leading farmers.
This follows the successful implementation of the leader farmer workshops last year, which were attended by over 260 participants and farm advisory officers from across the sugar belt areas of Fiji.
"An important aim of the project is to strengthen mill workers' and sugar cane farmers' knowledge and skills to enable them to become more effective partners in the industry," says Ambassador Andrew Jacobs of the Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific.
"This aim has become even more important now in the context of post-Tropical Cyclone Winston as farmers devastated by its effects pursue new knowledge and skills to help them regain their livelihoods and rebuild their lives as quickly as possible".
This year, the first workshop was held on 14 – 15 March at the FSC Training Centre in Labasa and attended by 18 leader farmers. The second workshop was held at Nodoga College on 16-17 March. The next two workshops were held on 21-22 March at Seaqaqa College, Labasa, and at the FSC Training Centre, Lautoka, on 23-24 March.
The Impact Partners (Fiji)/Fairtrade Coordination Unit (IPF/FCU) from the EU Coordination Unit is coordinating farmers' attendance at the workshops delivered by Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC).
IPF/FCU Fairtrade Relations and Development Coordinator and EU Coordination Unit Technical Manager, Mr Mohammed Habib said that these workshops equip farmers with basic finance and business planning skills which they can then distribute to other farmers after the training.
He said that the training is an example of appropriately targeted and successful extension services which will allow for improvements for sugar farming businesses.
Mr Habib added that this will increase farmers' incomes and the industry.
IPF/FCU and the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) introduced the leader farmer concept after seeing the impact of similar systems in other parts of the world, such as the farmer field concept widely used in Asia and Africa.
This model for extension development and advisory services has assisted in the upskilling and capacity building of farmers.
IPF/FCU and FSC established a network of leader farmers in Fiji’s 23 sugarcane sectors to address the need to pass on technical information (technology transfer). This new round of training provides business skills to complement the farmer’s technical skills.
Workshop facilitator and trainer Ms Kerri Leadbitter said that the second round of leader farmer training continues with a strong emphasis on the production of cane and supplementary crops (legumes, vegetables and fruits) and services associated with cane farming such as truck and tractor hire.
The Training Support to the Fiji Sugarcane Industry project is a four-year, EUR4M project within the EU’s Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol (AMSP 2013) programme. It is the result of a partnership agreement between the EU and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC) was contracted as the implementing agency for this project. APTC is a development initiative funded by the Australian Government to deliver training to increase the supply of skilled workers in the Pacific region.