Sugar Cane Growers Fund seeks bigger role in rural finance

Fiji’s Sugar Cane Growers Fund wants to move beyond its current role and become a fully fledged community and growth fund and bank. Chairman Marika Sedre Liveniyali said the long-term vision is to offer a wider range of financial services to farmers and rural communities.

Liveniyali said reports and recommendations over the years had highlighted the need for change. The fund must modernise its operations, he said, to meet changing expectations and strengthen the support available to sugar growers.

The comments came in Lautoka during the launch of the fund’s Document Management System, chatbot and Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion Framework. The fund has already reduced its lending interest rate to 3.5%, introduced more competitive fees and charges, relaxed lending requirements, and added insurance products and a savings scheme.

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The vision is for the Fund to eventually provide a wider range of financial services to farmers and rural communities.

Liveniyali said the fund’s current Act prevents it from directly providing some essential financial services. It has therefore formed strategic partnerships with third parties to widen the services available to growers. He said those partnerships reflected practical efforts to expand support, rather than limited capacity or ambition.

Transforming the fund will require backing from the Fijian Government, financial institutions, industry stakeholders and development partners, Liveniyali said. Its goal is to keep evolving while placing growers at the centre of its operations and supporting the future of Fiji’s sugar industry.

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These partnerships are not a sign of limited capacity or ambition, but part of the Fund’s efforts to find practical solutions.