Fiji Pine Group Empowers Communities
The Fiji Pine Group’s renewed vision in the recent years is to have unprecedented and extraordinary engagement with the pine landowners through continuous consultations and community empowerment,” said the chief executive officer, Vimlesh Kumar.
This has resulted in the formation of a very strong relationship and bond between the landowners and the Group which in turn has inspired both parties to support each other.
Mr. Kumar said the Group had carried out various reforms within the landowner-based institutions to bring about greater transparency and accountability.
“One of the major reforms was made to the levies, which are now referred to as the Landowner Community Development Fund (LCDF) – which is based on 5.5 percent of the logging, cartage and roading operations,” Mr. Kumar said.
Through the LCDF, the Fiji Pine Limited, the leading company within the Fiji Pine Group, assists with projects like rural electrification, water and sanitation, sports sponsorship and education assistance.
Mr. Kumar said this fund is purely for landowner community development, with education being the main priority.
Financial Literacy Training
Mr Kumar said that it is very important for the landowners and workers within the group of companies to know the real value of money, how to spend it, where to invest and its returns.
The Group collaborated with the Consumer Council of Fiji recently, and organised a financial literacy training for the employees of Fiji Pine Limited who are regularly engaged in landowner consultation, as well as for the employees of Tropik Wood Industries Limited, another company within the Group and the largest sawmiller and wood-chipping facility in Fiji.
“We had the training facilitated for all our six FPL stations, Tropik’s Drasa operations and our Fiji Pine Group Limited chairman and manager, totaling 45 altogether. The new and renewed knowledge on financial literacy will be invaluable as we work towards ensuring tangible and measureable outcomes from our entire operations,” Mr Kumar said.
The motive behind training the FPL employees was for them to become financial literacy trainers for the landowners during the stakeholder meetings and consultations.
“Through this awareness, our 25,000 landowners can recognise genuine financial management and investment opportunities and differentiate them from the quick rich scams that are being peddled by certain individuals
and groups. The new knowledge will maximise the value of their land through their resourcefulness,” Mr Kumar said.
“We want our landowners to attain the information on cash management and investment opportunities available to them by our LCDF which is solely for them, their development needs and for their future generations.”
“The Pine Group’s goal behind this training is to train especially our FPL employees who consult daily with our landowners and to become the on-the-job trainers in teaching them financial literacy to develop a stronger understanding of basic financial concepts. That way, they can handle their money better and make investment for better future of their generations, family members and the society,” Mr. Kumar added.
FPL employees gained knowledge on key components including saving, budgeting, managing your money, creating a family vision, parametric Insurance, debt management and planning for the future.
Prioritising Education
Mr. Kumar said education is a priority need for the landowners and the Fiji Pine Group is supporting them with this key development need.
“Transformational results in our economy, society and individual lives will only be brought about through ongoing education,” he said.
“Through education we can drive progression and as an organisation we have this responsibility towards our landowners. We want the very best for them, their children, and their future generations. To establish a better future for them, we will honour our commitment with diligence,” he added.
Mr Kumar acknowledged the management and team of the Consumer Council of Fiji for bringing in such an initiative and creating the necessary awareness within the communities.
“It was a great collaboration with such an organisation that is working toward an objective of making a difference in people’s lives for betterment and development,” Mr
Kumar said.
Last year alone, the Fiji Pine Group invested a total of $365,000 in education assistance. This assistance includes paying fees for tertiary students, providing laptops to facilitate their online/distance learning programmes, upgrade of schools facilities and provision of study equipment for rural based schools.
The Fiji Pine Commission came into being as a body on the 1st of July 1976 under the provision of the Fiji Pine Commission Act (Cap 151). The primary function of the Commission was to establish a viable forestry industry based on planted forests. Much of the plantation development is on iTaukei land and the duty of the Commission (now Fiji Pine Limited) includes involving landowners in its commercial activities on terms that aim to ensure the continuing viability of the industry. The areas for pine planting were mostly degraded grassland which was not suited for other activities.