RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE SUGARCANE PRODUCTIVITY IN FIJI

摘要

The Fijian sugar industry enjoyed the privilege of having a small but an effective research and development section for a little over hundred years. This was mainly due to the Colonial Sugar Refinery Ltd (CSR Ltd) the parent company of the Fiji SugarCorporation (FSC) understood the need for research and development. On hind side it is obvious that the parent company not only understood but valued the need for R&D thus spent substantial funds in this area. It is thus not surprising that CSR producedexcellent sugar and the Agricultural Experiment Station at Fiji enjoyed the reputation as one of leaders in sugarcane breeding in the world initially under the able leadership of late Messers Strong, Joe Daniel and later under Dr Krishnamurthi. However,all this changed in the last two decades due to lack of vision and foresight from the FSC administrators. However, the good news is that the Steering Committee set up under the Sugar commission of Fiji under the leadership of Mr. Charlie Walker and support from the Asian Development Bank, government and opposition has changed a lot for the future of research and development once again in the industry.