Ministry Strengthens Support for Forestry Cottage Industries
The Fijian Government is committed to Fiji’s national development by enhancing economic growth, capitalizing on emerging opportunities and delivering services that are inclusive and impactful on the lives of all Fijians.
A key part of the Government’s National Development Plan focuses on providing assistance to Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and the identification of alternative livelihood schemes that will further increase profit margins for small income generating businesses.
This vision is shared by the Ministry of Forestry and highlighted as a Strategic Goal under its 13 year Strategic Plan to “Improve the socio-economic impact of the Forest and its People”.
The outcome/impact of this Strategic Goal is the support that the Ministry provides in managing sustainable forest based economic activity with forest based industries, increased participation of small forest enterprises and the empowerment of local communities to create employment opportunities.
Forestry Subsidy Assistance
Through the Ministry’s Subsidy Assistance, support is provided for the establishment of small forestry-related businesses, to purchase tools, equipment and machinery to enhance production and quality, and also contribute to value adding.
These cottage industries will empower communities to generate revenue and contribute to economic recovery while utilizing waste wood to achieve maximum utilization of forest resources.
According to the Ministry of Forestry Permanent Secretary, Pene Baleinabuli, “this support is vitally important in creating an enabling environment for our forest-based industries to thrive and for business creation to support the livelihoods of our forest-dependent communities, while at the same time achieving sustainable management of our forests for optimum ecological, environmental and socio-economic benefits”.
This assistance has been provided since 2015 (with the exception of 2019, 2020 and 2021 because of budget cuts at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic) and to date has assisted 19 individuals with value adding machinery worth $150,000.
The Handicrafts Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027 reports that “… in recent years, with the emergence of online retail and the proliferation of various e-commerce channels, the accessibility to handicrafts has become more convenient for consumers.
This has provided a boost to the sales of handcrafted goods across the globe. Another factor driving the market growth is the shift from ethnic to contemporary designs, coupled with the strong demand from offices, hospitals and hotels.
Apart from this, the growing travel and tourism industry has provided vast opportunities to local artisans and handicraft manufacturers to produce commoditized products and sell them to tourists who are willing to spend significantly on souvenirs and other craft items.”
The Ministry of Forestry works closely with the Biosecurity Authority (BAF) to ensure that wooden artifacts that are taken out of
Fiji by tourists and locals alike are inspected for Non-Commercial Value (NCV) which certifies that the product(s) are safe and free from harmful pests.
Of the 19 SMMEs that were assisted through the Forest Subsidy Scheme, 13 are still actively engaged in forest-related business, earning an average income of $1,800 per month - an increase of 44 per cent from their previous income. Under the 2022-2023 revised budget, $30,000 was allocated for the Forest Subsidy Assistance.
Creatively Using Waste Wood
The Government continues to promote the improved utilization of waste wood for high value products for the local and overseas niche markets. Since 2010, the Government has invested a total of $1.2 million dollars in the Wood Utilization Project with the objective of finding ways to maximize waste wood utilization through value adding and downstream processing.
The Wood Utilization Project under the Ministry’s Forest Products Trade & Training (FPTT) Division currently targets 3 specific areas to improve wood utilization namely the harvesting residues, sawmilling residues/wood processing residues and the export fall-downs or materials that have not met the export standards.
This support is vitally important in creating an enabling environment for our forest-based industries to thrive and for business creation to support the livelihoods of our forest-dependent communities, while at the same time achieving sustainable management of our forests for optimum ecological, environmental and soCIo-EConomIC BEnEfits. Pene Baleinabuli Ministry of Forestry Permanent Secretary
As such, the Ministry has been working with Resource Owners and Cottage Industries like Tabs Craftwood and Niu Venture Forests’ Kavara Wood Art amongst others to use waste wood commercially.
Kavara Woodart creates unique hand crafted hand burnt products. Likewise, Tabs Craftwood is one of our cottage industries based at the Ministry’s Training Centre at Nasinu. The crafts are created from the company’s export fall-downs which is flooding their export yards in Suva and Lautoka.
Part of the assistance includes training in the areas of basic sawmilling, basic timber drying, timber preservation, timber grading, timber machining and basic furniture making. Participants who are currently in training are from Sote and Naimasimasi villages in Tailevu.
Once these cottage industries have established themselves in the local and overseas markets, they will move on to operate on their own. The Ministry intends to extend these trainings to all the mahogany plantation estates across the country.