Raj Sharma has been appointed as the chairperson of Food Processors (FIJI) LTD.

This was revealed by the­Attorney-General and Min­ister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in Macuata yesterday.

Mr Sharma is currently a senior executive at the HFC Bank and will assume his new role as Sugar Cane Growers Fund chief execu­tive officer soon.

He has helped execute strategies approved by the HFC Bank Board and formu­lating the Vision and strate­gic direction for the bank.

And of course Mr Sharma is organised and delivers the outcomes in a timely, ac­curate way.

From humble beginnings, Mr Sharma is originally from Vuniyalayala, Labasa is also the chairperson of Copra Millers Fiji Limited (CMFL) and Fiji Rice Lim­ited.

He is also a board member of the Sugar Research Insti­tute of Fiji.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum thanked Mr Sharma for his contributions and he said such kind of people are needed for capacity build­ing.

“I am quite excited and it brings lot of challenges,” Mr Sharma said of the Food Processors role.

He said that it was one of the companies that Govern­ment needs to revive be­cause it has huge potentials.

“It has good properties and it also includes the property at Batiri, the citrus farm.

“It has to improve on its fi­nancial position and reposi­tion its image.”

He is 52-years-old and has two children and is current­ly residing in Suva.

Copra Millers Fiji Limited

Meanwhile, the Fiji Vir­gin Coconut Oil, a branded product of Copra Millers Fiji Limited will now be available in the local and overseas market.

This is after Mr Sayed-Khaiyum launched the product at the mill in Sa­vusavu yesterday.

He also handed over a truck worth $155,000 to the company, which will be used to cart nuts from the farm­ers to the mill.

Mr Sharma, Copra Millers chairperson, thanked Gov­ernment for the support.

He said the minister had approved the word Fiji to be used.

“We are happy that one year of testing and arrange­ment has come to an end for the Fiji Virgin Coconut Oil.

“We are now looking into local and overseas markets.

“There are over 100,000 stakeholders that are farm­ers who supply copra to the mill,” Mr Sharma said.

“With the commitment of the Government, farmers, management and staff the company has been doing well.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum high­lighted that consistency and continuity in the delivery of the product is very impor­tant.

He said they don’t want products to be good this week and then the following week it’s not good.

He said that this was very critical and of course a number of state owned en­terprises are revaluing and revamping how they run their businesses and how they need to participate in the modern 21st century market.

He said Government has provided a lot of funding with a lot of incentives for them to make sure that hap­pens.

Prices per litre for the product ranges from $12 to $15 and it’s already avail­able in local supermarket shelves and Tappoo City outlets.

This is Mr Sharma’s fourth year of service as the CMFL board chairperson.

Fiji Rice Limited

Now the rice farmers in Dreketi, Vanua Levu will not need to worry about where and how to store their paddy.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also officiated at the ground breaking ceremony of the Fiji Rice Limited warehouse yesterday.

Company chairperson Mr Sharma said the $270,000 warehouse located beside the mill in Dreketi can store upt to 100 tonnes of paddy.

“The warehouse will be ready after six months.

“Before the farmers used to harvest rice and store paddy in their field and our work­ers used to collect and bring it to the mill.

“Sometimes when there is too much rain the paddy would get wet and by the time our workers collect it contains lot of moisture content and farmers don’t get paid as what they ex­pect.”

He thanked Government for the investment.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said there has been lot of capital input by Government to be able to give farmers confi­dence to continue farming.

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