MINISTER RAVU’S SPEECH AT THE ONE-DAY STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP ON THE MID-TERM REVIEW OF THE ACIAR PROJECT

Representatives from Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Pacific Community (SPC), Fiji Ministry of Forestry (MOF), Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF), University of Queensland Stakeholders from Government and Non-Government Organisations

Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning, Ni Sa Bula Vinaka
 
It is with great pleasure that I am joining you here in Nadi to officially open this one day workshop of the ACIAR-funded Project for Coconut and Other non-traditional wood and forest products.
 
At the outset, I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of the ACIAR, QDAF and SPC for the opportunity provided to our Ministry of Forestry to participate in the 5-year project on, “Coconut and other non-traditional forest resources for the manufacture of Engineered Wood Products (EWP)” which began in February 2021.

Furthermore, I would also like to acknowledge the support and assistance of the Australian Government in working closely with the Ministry of Forestry, over many years, on several development projects, providing immense benefits which also include technology transfer and capacity building.
Australia and Fiji share a strong and enduring bilateral relationship, demonstrated by our Vuvale Partnership, building on an already strong foundation in the Fiji-Australia relationship.
The current project on coconut and other non-traditional wood and forest products follows a previous ACIAR funded research project (FST/2009/062), which installed new research equipment at the Nasinu TUD facility, resulting in the successful demonstration of the technical feasibility of peeling logs from senile coconut stems and using the veneers produced for the manufacture of coconut-based engineered wood products (EWPs).
 
The 2009 project which was a collaboration between ACIAR, QDAF, SPC and the Ministry of Forestry, saw a significant technological breakthrough in demonstrating that high density, senile coconut stems can be reliably peeled into quality veneer using relatively low-cost, spindle less lathe technologies. Similar results were obtained for other small dimensional stems.
 
The current EWP project aims to deliver and validate wood processing technologies to transform coconut and other currently low-value forest resources into high-value engineered wood products suitable for local and international markets.
 
The project is now in its mid-phase of implementation. This workshop has brought together the Project Team, Partners, and stakeholders to review the achievements and constraints since its implementation, discuss the project activities and provide a basis on which to move the project to the final phase of completion from 2024-2026.
 
But while all of these sound very promising, I think the real challenge lies in how our forest industry can quickly take up this opportunity and make the necessary investments and adopt the technology. There are perhaps a number of significant issues that we may need to take a close look to help the industry in this regard. To my mind, an important question that we should be asking ourselves is to do with the long-term supply of coconut logs. 
 
I noted that in 2022, it was estimated that there were approximately 35, 000 hectares of coconut in Fiji with a stocking of about 2.4  million palms out of which 1.5 million were considered senile i.e. 60 years old with low nut productivity. Where are these coconuts, who owns them and how accessible are they in terms of industrial processing and marketing?
 
I am glad that the project is already working on these issues, undertaking a number of reviews and producing the relevant reports which, I sincerely hope, will positively contribute to the final outcome.
 
Overall, this project has positive social, economic and environmental impacts including a source of income for farmers as well as meeting our Sustainable Forestry aspirations by using senile coconut trees.
 
I would like to urge you all to actively participating in today’s review discussions. It is you, stakeholders, out there in the field and actually doing the work day in and day out, who know the real issues and challenges and the ideas on how these could be overcome.
The project has pulled together a very experienced team with skills across a wide range of disciplines and they are eager to support the adoption of a new engineered wood product value chain here in Fiji. I can only encourage our forest and wood products industries to take advantage of this very unique opportunity.
 
By enabling new resources such as senile coconut palms to be used in high value wood products, there are many benefits that can be expected. Importantly, our farming communities are able to remove the significant number of unproductive coconut palms, and using the payments received from selling the logs, are able to replant their land with new palms or other valuable food crops.
 
Our timber industry can produce new innovative products. These can be used locally in speciality joinery and furniture manufacture along with pursuing high value export opportunities. Employment opportunities are expected along the new value chain. 
 
The project can only achieve so much on their own, and it is imperative that your experiences and knowledge contribute to the discussions today, but also we work together throughout the remaining project term to make the most of this amazing opportunities. We need to realise the community and business benefits that this project is supporting.

In closing, I wish to thank you again for your participation and wish you all a successful deliberation.
 
Vinaka Vakalevu.