Suva, Fiji: Fiji’s State-driven Committee on Better Utilisation of Land (CBUL) taskforce says it is asking landowners to relinquish the remaining five years on native leases and issue a new lease altogether.

The taskforce, headed by Commissioner Western Commander Joeli Cawaki, is engaged in talks with landowners.

While details of the drive are not fully available, the taskforce said it is carrying out the initiative by district for ease of administration “in terms of the facilitation of the issuing of lease documents and registrations (cane contracts) by the Sugar Industry Tribunal”.

The taskforce said the issuance of the documents will also facilitate the provision of contractual cash advances for farm inputs by the Fiji Sugar Corporation or at the request for funding from lending agencies such as the Sugarcane Growers Fund, the Cane Farmers’ Co-operative, Savings and Loans Association (CCSLA), and the Fiji Development Bank among others.