FIJI is resource rich but economically very poor for the landowners, said Agriculture Ministry Director Land Resource Planning Division Amena Banuve.
Mr Banuve made the remark during a panelist discussion on the topic: Why Cooperatives Matter in the Blue-Green Economy during the Pacific Regional on Cooperatives as Drivers of the Blue-Green Economy in the Pacific, held in Nadi last week.
“I had mentioned on the sector-specific regulations on kava industry in Fiji, when you talk about the export earner, kava is at the top of the list,” Mr Banuve said.
“So how cooperatives can come in when they continue with the production, but they also sustain their money.
“And one way we can work around this is for cooperatives or clusters to form their value chain, so that they can produce their own kava and they sell their products.
“Because for ,Fiji one of the main components in the value chain are the middleman.”
Mr Banuve suggested that there should be a formation of clusters of landowners and cooperatives.
“If that can be in the Co-operatives Act for regulation of clusters to be part of that for sector specific policies or regulations within the policy.
“So that we target our landowners and guide them along the value chain and just to ensure they sustain their land use or also sustain their partnership.”
