Sugar Industry in Fiji

EC 304: Economics of Development Project

Topic: Importance of agriculture for economic development
Subtopic: Sugar Industry in Fiji

Group Members
  Name (ID #): Jacinta Butafa (s11025189)
              Komal K Chand (s11065674)
                            Willy Gulu (s11027666)

        Tutorial:   Monday (9am – 10am)

Table of Contents
1.0 Abstract 2
2.0 Introduction 3
3.0 Literature review 4
4.0 Methodology 8
5.0 Brief overview of Fiji Sugar industry 9
6.0 Theoretical underpinnings of the issue 10
7.0 Findings and discussion 10
8.0 Strategies and reform programs 14
9.0 Conclusion 15
10.0 Recommendation 16
11.0 Bibliography 17

1.0 Abstract
There is a considerable amount of decline in the output produced by the agricultural sector. The major focus of this assignment is on the contributions of sugar industry towards economic development. The Sugar Industry namely Fiji Sugar Corporation is faced with a lot of problems. The industry has failed to gain the support of the European Union (EU) which was the biggest support for the industry due to the fact that Fiji Government did not fulfill its commitments to the European Union. There is a continuous decline in the milling efficiency since the mid 1980’s. Along with this, the output produced by farms is insufficient to meet the demands for global markets as such the economy is reasonably behind in international competition compared to other countries that also engage in export of sugar. In order to keep pace with the growing competition and achieve economies of scale, the manufacturing of sugar needs a significant increment growth rate to seventy five percent compared to the current level of production in Fiji.   The identity of many towns on the two major islands of Fiji (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) would have been nothing in absence of the Sugar Industry due to the fact that many households rely on the industry for their survival. Keeping this factor in mind, a...