Jai Shree Gawander was appointed the chief executive officer of the Fiji Sugar Cane Growers Council

Sugar Cane Growers Council (Fiji)

Sugar Cane Growers Council represents the sugar cane farmers with the sugar industry in Fiji. It is made up of 38 members elected by the farmers and eight members nominated by the Government. The Sugar Cane Growers Council election is held every three years. The Council has a Chief Executive, the...

 on 31 March 2007. He has also been a member of the House of Representatives

House of Representatives (Fiji)

The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...

 and research manager at the Sugarcane Research Centre in Lautoka

Lautoka

Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji and the second largest in the South Pacific. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar...

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

.

Sugarcane research

Gawander rose to prominence because of his research on plant nutrition, sugarcane agronomy and general management of sugarcane research in Fiji and the transfer of this information and technology to 23,000 sugar cane growers. He also carried out research on the extent of climate change and its impact on sugar cane production and the loss of soil and nutrients from the undulating cane areas due to erosion and surface run off. He has been a member of Fiji Institute of Technology

Fiji Institute of Technology

The Fiji Institute of Technology is a university based in Fiji. Its has 4 campuses in Suva, Ba, Nadi and Labasa. It was established in 1963 to provide Technical and vocational education aimed at training students in technical disciplines to meet the engineering human resource needs of Fiji...

 and a member of International Society for Sugar Technologist.

In March 2005, he chaired a workshop on "Raising Awareness on Linking Climate Forecasting and Decision Making Practices for the Fiji Sugar Industry".

Political involvement

In the 2006 general election, he was the Fiji Labour Party

Fiji Labour Party

The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji, which holds observer status with the Socialist International. Most of its support at present comes from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. It is...

 candidate for the Lautoka City Indian Communal Constituency

Lautoka City (Indian Communal Constituency, Fiji)

Lautoka City Indian Communal is an electoral division of Fiji, one of 19 communal constituencies reserved for Indo-Fijians....

, previously held by Ganesh Chand

Ganesh Chand

Dr. Ganeshwar Chand, better known as Ganesh Chand, is a Fijian academic and former politician of Indian descent. He is a founder of the University of Fiji and serves as a Trustee of the Fiji Institute of Applied Studies and as Editor of Fijian Studies: A Journal of Contemporary Fiji .From 1999 to...

 and he won easily by getting 80% of the votes cast.

CEO of Sugar Cane Growers Council

On 31 March 2007, he was appointed the chief executive officer of the Fiji Sugar Cane Growers Council, replacing Jagannath Sami

Jagannath Sami

Jagannath Sami has been a soccer player representing a premier district side in the Fiji Football Association competitions, a leader of the sugar mill workers, a leader of a farmers' union, a politician and Chief Executive Officer of the Sugar Cane Growers Council of Fiji but he is best known for...

who was sacked in January for alleged mismanagement.