The National Fire Authority (NFA) has issued a stern warning to all sugarcane farmers to be careful of unnecessary fire as the crushing season is around the corner.

This comes after a fire partly-destroyed a sugarcane field at Wailevu, outside Labasa Town last Friday.

Cane farmer Pumale Gounder said he was so frustrated because the fire had destroyed six months of hard work.

“The fire started around 4pm on Friday, while my neighbour was burning rubbish near the cane field,” Mr Gounder said.

He said when the fire started the family could not contain it and it destroyed four acres of cane from his eight-acre farmland.

“It was really frustrating to lose 100 tonnes because I was expecting to get more than 250 tonnes of cane this year.”

Mr Gounder said nothing could be done now to the cane as the mill had not yet opened.

Meanwhile, NFA chief executive officer John O’Connor said farmers had to be very careful as crushing season was approaching.

“This goes for all the farms in the West and North; to be very mindful of other farmers during this season,” Mr O’Connor said.

He said most farmers relied on sugarcane as their source of income and they could not afford to lose a single cent from unnecessary fires.

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