December 21, 2014
Size the key in Maori land development
The Ministry for Primary Industries has been told it should concentrate on large and medium sized Maori land blocks if it wants to be effective in raising productivity.
A new cost analysis report for the ministry by consultants PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Growing Productivity of Maori Land, says more than half of the 168,200 blocks are under 1 hectare and make up less than 2 percent of the 1.2 million total.
Another 31 percent of land titles account for 177,500 hectares.
“It would be possible to upgrade the productivity of 42% of overall Maori land by targeting roughly 2000 blocks of 100 hectares or more, and upgrade the productivity of an additional 42% by targeting 18,000 additional blocks of between 10 and 100 hectares,” it says.
“A policy focus on large blocks and/or large projects could have positive spin-offs throughout the sector, as the owners of small blocks decide to emulate changes seen on large blocks.”
It estimated a programme of rapid development of land suitable for dairy could deliver gains of $190 million a year in extra production and 1000 extra jobs at a cost of $480 million over the next decade.
Investing in sheep and beef farming would have lower returns, but PWC says they could be overestimating the cost of getting that land up to full production.
Horticulture and forestry also offered good returns.
Launching the report, Agriculture Minister Nathan Guy said the size of the prize was about $3.5 billion, including $1.2b in forestry.
Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell says he wants to table a revised Te Ture Whenua Maori Act to remove some of the obstacles to development.
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