NLTB’S POSITION ON LEASING MATTERS RELATING TO MAHOGANY

A lot has been said in the media on this and the Native Land Trust Board would like to provide the following for the information of the public:

• The issue of payment of royalties and stumpage are based on the Forest Act (1970) and the Forest Decree (1992).
• Royalties are payable on native forests while stumpage are payable on regenerated forests such as pine and mahogany.
• The intention behind the stumpage payment on regenerated forests is because of the pepercorn rental levied on such leases. Pepercorn or nominal rental is applied due to the unique nature of forest leases.
• Mahogany or pine is not an annual crop such as sugar cane or ginger wherein you reap in the short term. Forests take about 30 years to mature and have greater risks of being damaged or destroyed by burning or cyclones, etc. All stakeholders, including landowners have to all await the harvesting to get their fair share of returns from the stumpage and other associated benefits.
• The Board in terms of stumpage payment is only receiving 3% from the Fiji Pine Limited on pine leases and 10% on mahogany plantations once they are harvested and processed.
• The sharing arrangement on the stumpage is 10% being retained by the Board while 90% is paid out to the landowners as defined and stipulated under the Native Land Trust Act and its Regulations.
• Separate committees comprising of the Fiji Hardwood Corporation Limited and NLTB and also the Fiji Pine Limited and NLTB have been formed to review the terms of the leases, rent and stumpage payments on both hardwood and pine plantations. Meetings are currently in progress on this and we anticipate to standardise all leases before the end of the year. Landowners will be fully informed of developments in due course.