A new report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Te Puni Kokiri has painted a bleak picture of Maori agricultural land in New Zealand.
The Maori Agribusiness in New Zealand Report says that the vast majority of Maori freehold agricultural land is underperforming.
It lays the blame squarely on ineffective management structures which, it says, severely impede the sector.
The report estimates that only 20 percent of Maori freehold land, or 300,000 hectares, is well-developed and performing to its full potential.
Of the remaining 80 percent of Maori freehold farming land, half is classified as underperforming, often markedly so, and the final 40 percent is underutilised, and not even close to reaching the land’s productivity potential.
Agriculture Minister David Carter says that, while the report isn’t rosy, the silver lining is the government now has a very good idea of how to address the problem.
“It’s a big problem but I think there are solutions there indicated in the report. One of the issues is that this land tends to be owned by a large number of small owners – multiple ownership.
“What we need to do is get good governance, there will be leaders within those owners who want to move this issue forward.
“We’ve got to have a governance structure that allows that to happen and the other owners prepared to let such leaders have a go.”
The report also says Maori agricultural organisations need to invest more in the training and upskilling of their management and on-farm staff.
“Maori land owners want to employ their own and I applaud them for that but. Many of those young people are relatively un-skilled, particularly in agriculture, and we need to up-skill them as quickly as possible” the Minister said.
Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples told Country 99TV he was surprised by the report’s findings.
“It was a rather larger figure than I thought in terms of poorly managed farmlands.
“Often the management is tied up in relationships which aren’t clear cut for Maori and make it difficult.
The other 40 percent underutilised? I can understand that one and I expected that. And it applies to a lot of lands where it has been difficult.
"It is tied up to the history of the transfer of culture if you like.”
