TWEED'S battling canefarmers are lending a helping hand to their Indonesian counterparts, even though most are struggling to make enough money to replant their fields.

Farmers on Friday met the Indonesian consul-general to Australia, Gary Juluf, and his team, along with Tweed Shire councillors, as part of a continuing scheme to help canefarmers in Indonesia boost productivity.

“I've been having a lot of their farmers here. They just want to come and have a look at our practices,” said Canegrowers Association Tweed River branch chairman Robert Quirk.

“I've been doing a few visits up there and helping them.

“We just want to help them become sustainable.”

Mr Quirk said Mr Juluf had become aware of visits by his country's farmers to Mr Quirk's farm and on Friday headed there himself to find out what they were studying.

Later he met with Mayor Kevin Skinner at the council chambers in Murwillumbah.

Late last week it was revealed that this year's Tweed sugar crop would be the worst in 40 years – despite local farmers' highly productive practices – due to flooding and continual rains in the growing season.

Some farmers are struggling to replant because of a lack of income.

But they are not afraid of helping their Indonesian counterparts, who produce cane for the local Indonesian market.

The Indonesian canefarmers have been visiting Australia since Mr Quirk met a PhD student from Indonesia at a sugarcane conference five years ago.

According to Mr Quirk the Indonesians are very serious about improving their productivity and have adopted practices that work well in Australia.

The Indonesian industry struggled to get the cane out of the ground each season because of a lack of workers and machinery.

He said the Indonesians posed no threat to Australia's sugar exports into Indonesia because “we fill the gaps they cannot reach in their domestic market”.

He said sugar production in Indonesia was for the domestic population and, because of the isolation of the farms, “they really only sell it to their surrounding communities”.

Where an Australian cane farm can produce 100 tonnes on a hectare, an Indonesian farm produces 47 to 50 tonnes.