The encroachment onto Fiji Pine Ltd lease boundaries by private licence holders is a major issue faced by the organisation.
Fiji Pine Ltd chairman Ratu Aisea Katonivere noted this during the security lease bonus payout in Lautoka on Thursday, adding, this was a straightforward case of theft of Fiji Pine Ltd’s valuable resources.
“When any outside party steals our pine, they are in fact stealing your returns from the pine industry,” Ratu Aisea said.
“Do not allow this to happen.
“Support the pine industry in tackling these issues.”
He said the Fiji Pine Group was not only for short-term returns — it worked towards long-term sustainable returns for landowners.
“At (Fiji) Pine Group we ensure that we make the best use of our forest resources and this involves ensuring that every square metre of the land that we lease is stocked with quality seedlings, that we harvest only those areas that are matured for harvesting.
“That we make the best product decision for every log that comes into the factory and that we achieve the best recovery of products from the logs that we get into the factory.”
Ratu Aisea said this was conducted through the robust systems they had in place and also through capital investments into state-of-the-art automated machinery.
