The Government should guide land use through a national policy because land is a national asset.
Fiji Labour Party leader (FLP) Mahendra Chaudhry said Fiji could not properly reform agriculture or revive the sugar industry if access to land continued to be treated only as a matter for the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB).
Speaking at the “State of the Fijian Economy Dialogue” in Suva yesterday, Mr Chaudhry said access to land remained one of the major problems facing the sugar industry and agriculture more broadly.
“The sugar industry continues to be one of Fiji’s largest sources of livelihood, supporting a substantial portion of the population either directly or indirectly.
“However, the decline of the industry had serious social and economic consequences for rural communities.”
Mr Chaudhry said the lack of meaningful reform and long-term planning in the sugar sector showed a failure of policy and leadership.
He said FLP had, for years, called on Government to convene an all-industry conference to discuss the problems affecting the sugar industry.
“Access to land is a big problem in the industry and generally to the whole of agriculture is a big problem.
“But these problems are not looked at. Land problems are left to the TLTB.
“The Government plays no role in it. Land is a national asset. We don’t have a national land use policy.”
Mr Chaudhry said the current approach left major land-use decisions to the TLTB, which he said administered 92 per cent of all land use.
He said Fiji could not continue under that arrangement if it wanted to address the challenges facing agriculture and the sugar industry.
“That is determined by the TLTB.
“They administer 92 percent of all land use. We can’t go on like this.”
Mr Chaudhry said there needed to be a national land use policy to guide how land was managed in the broader public interest.
