Press Release Detail

Fiji's sandalwood trade dates back to the 1700s, when Europeans first started trading with Fijians. Although sandalwood, or yasi, was the first commodity traded in Fiji, it has not been effectively utilised. It was overexploited in Fiji in the early 1800s and has been regularly exploited since then in the absence of a regulatory framework.

Sandalwood is still a very important commercial tree species in Fiji, despite the fact that wild sandalwood supplies have been severely depleted due to overharvesting, fire, and theft. Plantations were commonly found in Bua (Lekutu, Dama and Navakasiga districts), Navosa (Tubenasolo and Nausori Highland), Kadavu (Yawe and Nacewa districts), Lau (Lakeba, Oneata and Ono I Lau) and Macuata (Dogotuki district).

With the history of sandalwood and its current potential and market demand, the Government, through the Ministry of Forestry, is working towards the product’s revitalisation as a non timber forest commodity. It is one of the species supported in the "Thirty Million Tree" planting initiative with the aim of expanding local sandalwood resources through large-scale planting that can sustain a viable sandalwood industry in Fiji.

There are four sandalwood species that are currently grown and cultivated in Fiji ; (1) Santalum yasi, (2) Santalum album, (3) Santalum hybrid and (4) Santalum austrocaledonicum,  however the Santalum austrocaledonicum is not recommended as yet by the Ministry. 

Consultations to form the Sandalwood Growers Association

The Ministry is working to improve the sandalwood market system to ensure equitable benefits for our local sandalwood growers. In light of this, the Ministry has begun consultations with sandalwood growers to form a Sandalwood Growers Association. 
The formation of Associations is a Policy objective of the Ministry of Forestry to promote active participation of landowners for effective representation of their interests and greater engagement within a regulatory framework to drive the sectors socioeconomic goals while managing the environment implications.

On Friday, May 3, 2023, the Ministry held consultations with respective stakeholders from Government line ministries, financial institutions, and most importantly, the Central and Eastern Division sandalwood growers, at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva. Here they shared their knowledge and made a valuable contribution to the advancement sandalwood development in Fiji.

A similar consultation was held in the Western Division, and growers in the Northern Division will have the same opportunity in the coming weeks.

Conservator of Forests, Ms Sanjana Lal, who officially opened the discussions, said one of the objectives of the consultations was to consult and inform the growers and relevant stakeholders about the need and importance of establishing the association in Fiji. 

“We need the engagement of sandalwood growers to develop effective sandalwood strategies and to guide government in the effective establishment of a framework to grow, manage, develop and promote a viable sandalwood industry in Fiji.”

Ms Lal said the discussions allowed the Ministry and invited stakeholders to present relevant information to growers on the processes taken to establish the Association.

She urged them to participate in the process because it was important for the growers to share their views and ideas for the betterment of sandalwood development in Fiji and the creation of more opportunities.

Following consultations, Ms Lal shared that they would then finalise the Association Cooperative by-laws and the formalisation of the Association in the 2023/2024 financial year.

“The Ministry of Forestry will continue to provide the desired political leadership; facilitate policy coherence, harmonisation and coordination required in addressing the challenges related to forestry resources in order to ensure sustainable forest management for the current and future generations,” Ms Lal said.

“It is my hope that this meeting will develop practical recommendations on how we can collectively deal with the issues surrounding sandalwood resources and its trade and the relevant policies and regulations to govern it.”

She reiterated the remarks by the Honourable Minister for Forestry, Hon. Kalaveti Ravu, when he made a ministerial statement in Parliament in regards to the Strategic Framework for Sandalwood Research and Development in April that the Ministry would continue to strengthen its capacity to support community based sandalwood nurseries and plantations to ensure that the sandalwood industry will have consistent and abundant resources.

“Although this transition has been challenging, particularly for prospective growers in seeking to optimise commercial returns from sales, yasi replanting, nursery and seedling supply is being incentivised through the Governments budgetary allocation to support interested growers,” Ms Lal said. 

Encouragement to growers

As of 2020, the Ministry developed a database on sandalwood and continues to reach out to farmers to have an appreciation of the existing resources and to also consider the next phase in the development of this species.
Sandalwood can be harvested within 15 to 20 years. The Ministry’s database suggests that the existing number of trees and expected volume of sandalwood oil could generate over $600 million in the next 10 years. To date, there are 141,511 standing sandalwood trees in a total area of 353.4225 hectares around the country.

Ms Lal emphasised that sandalwood could be a medium to long-term investment that farmers could plant alongside other short-term crops. This message was reinforced by a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture, who advocated for sandalwood as an agroforestry species. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, an agroforestry system is best defined as an integrated approach to solving food security and climate change challenges.

“Compared to pine and mahogany, the advantage of growing sandalwood is that your can grow it anywhere, in your backyard or with other agriculture crops. Fiji is lucky because we have two of the best sandalwood species, Santalum yasi, also known as Yasi Dina and Santalum album, also known as Yasi ni Dia, in Fiji. We have done research and extracted the oil and we find that it has very good quality. So, we got the right species and we need the right environment to grow it and the right people to grow it for us on a large scale,” Ms Lal said.

Sandalwood is a semiparasitic plant that requires a suitable host plant to grow well and generate high-quality heartwood. As a result, the more species interplanted with sandalwood in a plantation, the better the yield and vice versa to the grower and environment as well. With Government support to re-establish this valuable resource, Ms Lal said the future looks bright for sandalwood as the foundation had been established for a lucrative comeback.

“The Ministry will continue to strengthen its capacity to support community based sandalwood nurseries and plantations to ensure that the Sandalwood Industry will have consistent and abundant resources,” Ms Lal said.

“Although this transition has been challenging, particularly for prospective growers in seeking to optimise commercial returns from sales, yasi replanting, nursery and seedling supply is being incentivised through the Ministry to support interested growers.” 

MOU for Sustainable Forest Management And Rehabilitation 
On May 26, 2023, Cabinet approved the execution by the Ministry of a Memorandum of Agreement with the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet). 

The Agreement is intended to facilitate cooperation in the area of forestry research and development and promote sustainable production of sandalwood in Fiji. APFNet is a regional non-profit committed to helping the economies and people of the Asia Pacific region by promoting and improving sustainable forest management and forest rehabilitation.  Fiji, through the Ministry of Forestry, is a member country. 
The assistance of APFNet will see the establishment of two fully equipped state nurseries and 65 hectares of sandalwood plantation for research and development purposes to boost its Sandalwood resources and improve livelihoods. 

Permanent Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry, Atelaite Rokosuka welcomed Cabinet’s decision.

Mrs Rokosuka said the Ministry through the Sandalwood Development Programme will establish a sandalwood brand recognition and development in the international marketplace based on its natural properties and competitiveness. 

The Ministry will be reaching out to key agencies within the Government to develop this brand.