April 17, 2013
Ngāi Tahu urges whanau onto whenua
Ngāi Tahu wants to get some of its next generation back to the land.
Ngāi Tahu Properties head, Tony Sewell, says the iwi has about 25,000 hectares of forestry land to bring into agriculture over the next 20 years, and it needs people to farm it.
It has teamed up with Lincoln University and Te Tapuae ō Rehua to develop Whenua Kura, a training programme that will teach Ngāi Tahu history and cultural values alongside farming skills.
The iwi estimates it will need about 600 people to work the land, and it wants to create opportunities for its own.
“The first job is to get our families enthused in farming as a career. Over the past 50 years in New Zealand, farming as a career has dropped in popularity so we want to lift that up again. We want to create opportunities for people to have a career in farming without necessarily having to own the land or put up with all the debt and other issues,” he says.
Tony Sewell says as well as basic farming skills, Whenua Kura will try to create a path towards management roles.
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