Fiji to host international sugar research meeting

Fiji will host a five-day international meeting which will see local and international sugar research personnel sharing information on "erianthus", a sugar hybrid, the government announced Wednesday. "The International Workshop on Noblisation of erianthus has been made possible through the funding from the European Union in Brussels under the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugar research program," the Sugar Research Institute of Fiji's chief executive officer Jai Gawander said. Erianthus is a hybrid of sugar cane to increase yield and fiber in the cane via hybrid of Noble (normal cane) and varieties such as Mana (most commonly used for sugar production), Fiji's Ministry of Information said. The ministry said that the meeting would see sugar hybrid experts from China, India, and Australia making presentations on their success stories and on how they were able to achieve this hybrid when other sugar producing countries failed. "Only two groups of people in the world have claimed to be successful in erianthus breeding and this workshop would give other sugar growing countries a chance to learn from them and try implementing erianthus in their countries," said Gawander. "The world authority on erianthus breeding will also be present and presentations on bio-technology usage in this process would be highlighted." Countries that have confirmed participation in the meeting scheduled for May 23 to 27 include China, Australia, Japan, India, France, the United States, Vietnam, Mauritius and Myanmar, according to the Ministry of Information.