Fiji’s new green revolution

by Stanley Simpson

Down in Mataso in Ra, where the old Nakorotubu road that takes you from Ra to Nasinu in Tailevu begins, the Tova Valley is being transformed.


What were once deforested lands overgrown with invasive weeds  is now home to a vibrant and pioneering nursery, and a beautiful green forest is slowly emerging on the landscape with rows and rows of budding trees.
This is now Teak country and the home of Future Forests Fiji (FFF) Ltd. They are investing heavily in a tree that is scattered around Fiji, but which has never been harnessed into a large scale plantation.
Teak, (Tectona Grandis) is a tree whose timber has been traded for almost 200 years, with an established global market, and the real potential to churn revenue running into the hundreds of millions of dollars once mature.
Future Forests Fiji commenced its plantation operations in December 2005, and to date has purchased 270 acres of freehold land, on which 65,000 Teak trees of various sizes now stand. Tens of thousands of Teak seedlings stand ready to be planted, while over 120,000 teak seeds are currently being germinated in the company’s professional nursery.

Future Forests plan to plant 100,000 trees on 100 hectares annually, with the aim of acquiring total land of around 3,000 hectares on which over 3.4 million Teak trees will be planted.
It may sound like a grand dream and a pie in the sky fantasy to some, but stand in the Tova Valley as Future Forests managing director Roderic Evers takes you on a tour, and you see how perfectly plausible and almost straightforward it is.
Evers and his team have scientifically, socially, environmentally and economically researched almost every aspect of the business from the origins of the seeds around Fiji, the amount of trees to be planted on a hectare of land, what is required to have the trees grow straight up and in straight rows, the thinning process, and almost every other detail no matter how small, that is required to keep the forest in as perfect condition as possible. The meticulous planning and processes they have developed, and their strategy and action plan for the future is impressive.
“Teak was planted in Fiji from the early 20th century onwards,” says Evers.
“They were planted by traders and by the colonial government and there are some enormous teak trees around the country.”
However none of these early planting ever developed or was sustained as a Teak plantation of any kind, with the country concentrating efforts on pine and mahogany.
FFF is the first commercial Teak tree plantation company in the Fiji Islands. Their  research show that Teak was introduced to Fiji from Burma (the biggest growers of Teak globally), India and Trinidad between 1947 and 1972 and these superior varieties of Teak now form the seed stock for FFF’s plantations.

Future Forests workers travel to areas around Fiji that have Teak trees some as old as 40 years to collect seeds that they bring back to germinate in their professional nursery in Ra.
“We get all our seeds from local sources, second generation trees with seeds that have become accustomed to the Fiji environment.”
“From one teak stand alone, one could collect about 50,000 seeds,” says Evers.
At the nursery, the team ensures that the seeds sourced from a particular tree is correctly labeled and the area it is from identified. This is to help them recognize the nature of the strands of seeds they collect, critical data that will help them in the future to combine the sturdier and more viable varieties that suit their plantations.

FFF is beginning to introduce tissue culture, where they clone and create more seedlings from their parent stock of superior trees.
“With tissue culture, we actually grow a teak plantlet from the tissues taken from a growing shoot ,” says Evers.
Evers estimates that with this method, the company can produce 200,000 seedlings in a laboratory.
“The beauty of this is that we can pick the 20 best teak trees in Fiji and reproduce the superior characteristics of these trees so that we have consistent quality trees in our plantations,” says Evers.
Everything is well documented on the plantation.
“The better we document it, the better we know in 15 to 20 years time the quality of the trees.”
On the plains and hillsides of Mataso, one can clearly see that the Teak is growing very well, and in very good order. Teak thrives in certain climatic and alluvial soil conditions. These conditions exist in Fiji, such as in Ra which has a distinct dry and wet season. Future Forests plantations are located here, and the company is also looking at other locations such as Tailevu, Naitasiri and Vanua Levu.
Future Forests spent the whole of 2005 researching the Teak industry with the company commencing planting in 2006.
“We looked at the growth rate, planted more trees in 2007, and saw the incredible results we were getting with one year old trees growing up to 4 metres,” says Evers.
Confident of their success, Future Forests is inviting private investors to join them. From the three shareholders who started the company three years ago, the company now has 14 shareholders and will soon be listed on the South Pacific Stock Exchange so that shares can be publicly traded.
 
“In relation to the global plantation industry, the objective is to become a relatively small sized internationally recognized high value plantation company,” states the Future Forests information memorandum.
“Revenue from thinning and harvesting will steadily increase from year 6 onwards. From year 15, FFF expects to start paying dividends from net profits.”
The company projects annual gross revenue to be at $150 million in year 25.
“Using only current Teak timber prices, adjusted for inflation, by year 30, FFF is expected to have earned accumulated revenue of over F$2 billion with estimated assets valued at over $1.4 billion.”
Evers says that the market for Teak is global.

“The biggest buyers of Teak are India and China and we can sell to other Asian countries, the US, Australia, and Europe.”
The company is particularly ideal for investors with longer term obligations, or as investment for the future. Evers himself initiated the idea of a Teak plantation as an investment for his children’s future.
“It was an investment for my children – that’s how it started. I bought some land and was going to plant Teak on it, with the reasoning being that in 25 years our kids would have half a million to a million dollars in timber assets, and that would give them a head start in life.”
 “Once the company starts making money, we start making a lot of money,” says Evers of the company’s future projections.
“It’s like a mining company that stockpiles gold for 10 years. Imagine how valuable it would be.”
“We are generating timber on the ground, but we are just not selling it. When we do start selling it, we will have a lot of it.”
Future Forests plans to plant 100,000 trees a year to achieve its goal, and will maintain that even when final harvesting and milling starts in 22 to 25 years.
“When we commence final harvesting and milling of 22 year old trees , we will replant the area. So we will always have a plantation of 3,000 hectares with 3 million trees on it, growing at any one time. That is what sustainable plantation is.”
“The sizes of logs will vary with 6 year olds, 12 year olds and 18 year olds and 22 year olds.”
Evers says the company plans to put in a high tech $6 million saw mill in about 15 years time.

“In Fiji we are importing all these furniture from all over the world and places like Indonesia for hotels who like Teak furniture, but we have the potential here.”
Teak’s strength is in its durability and is largely used for furniture making, boat building, and construction.
“It is a very durable timber as it has a higher oil content so it doesn’t rot when exposed to the weather and even sea water, and is termite resistant,” says Evers.
Teak is also more valuable globally than mahogany and pine.
Like any business, there are risks that could threaten the life of the forests such as droughts, cyclones, disease and fires but Future Forests have put plans in place to mitigate that, which include not planting all their trees in one area. 
Environmentally, the company has initiated efforts to protect and enhance the biodiversity that surrounds or is within their forest, and try to plant only on previously deforested and idle lands. Evers says that the company is working towards Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to create eco timber.
They are also working with the Department of Environment to register for carbon trading with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Carbon trading, a $64 billion global industry allows polluters to buy credit from companies that take out the carbon and balance the effect of emissions. Fiji has already traded carbon with the FEA wind farm near Sigatoka, and Future Forests estimate that it could be a rewarding industry for them. 

On the farm, former canefarmers and villagers are quickly becoming expert foresters, learning on the job and gaining valuable first-hand experience that could help them plant their own forests on their own clan land.
“We want to create a partnership with the landowners that we may lease from,” says Evers. “We will even help them plant their own trees.”
“So not only will they get their lease money, they can earn income from working on our plantations, they also get a stumpage or royalty, which is a small percentage of the value of the tree, but by planting their own Teak they have a great value of their own trees standing on the ground.”
Former cane farming couple Mukesh and Reshmi Chand play a vital role among the 12 staff that are permanently employed at the moment by FFF. Reshmi is the Nursery manager and Mukesh is the Plantation manager.
“I just learnt on the job,” says Reshmi
Narikoso villager Sireli Racule is the Plantation supervisor.
“I ensure that the trees are planted well and straight, and that we weed nicely around the trees,” he says.
“This is good for our children. I will plant some Teak on my land this year. I know how to do it.”
“The business is growing well,” says Racule. “The trees are like a baby in the family which will grow stronger with care.”   
Apart from the real and enormous economic potential, and employment opportunities to surrounding villages, the company feels it is in a business that is both socially and environmentally responsible.
They write: In a world which is experiencing unprecedented deforestation and the widespread global environmental threats this brings, there is something spiritual and intuitively right about planting a tree.