RICE farmers in Naselai, Nausori, say they need a drier to aid in the production process.

Saten Singh, a farmer in the area, was busy drying paddies in unfavourable weather when a team from this newspaper visited the area this week.

He said production had been hampered because of the single most uncontrollable factor, weather.

“We’ve got one harvester –– which is good, but then the cyclone came and now the rain has made it difficult to dry the rice,” he said.

‘“I believe one farmer lost his entire crop because of the delay of the harvester.

“The other farmers are waiting for the rain to stop and then crops can be harvested but it all depends on the weather.’’ Mr Singh said if the rain continued then whatever crops were harvested would be wasted.

He said this was the reason they needed a drier for the area.

Farmers in Naselai have been planting rice for decades and all said that because of unfavourable weather, they were in need of equipment to help them remain sustainable and consistent in terms of production.

Minister for Agriculture Dr Mahendra Reddy said there was no drier available for the farmers and while Fiji Rice Ltd had some provisions to buy rice at a lower price, this was only applicable in Labasa.

He said farmers in Nausori were cultivating at a smaller scale, but there were plans to build a mill and drier there if the volume of production was increased in the Central Division.