BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

VILLAGERS in west Kwara’ae constituency in Malaita province are questioning why some intending candidates for next year’s national general elections are organising awareness programmes in their communities.

They say the timing of the awareness programmes is in breach of the law because no declaration has been made yet by authorities.

The villagers add that when they attended the awareness programmes, they were shocked to find that the intending candidates were actually campaigning for the coming elections.

“We call on for those intending candidates to wait for the right time for those specific programs.

“We also understand that our constituency in west Kwara’ae will have numbers of intending candidates to compete in the upcoming national general election which will be held early next year.”

West Kwara’ae is one of the biggest constituencies in Malaita population wise, and covers part of west Fataleka region, part of east Malaita and part of central Kwara’ae.

By Gary Hatigeva

COSMO representatives who are here in the country to scout for potential products that can make it to the international market through its programme, Satofumi Kawata has suggested that Solomon Islands can become the next big player in the world food market.

The group came to identify major potential products that can be properly processed and exported from Solomon Islands to the United Arab Emirates under their exporting flagship, but apart from their main targets, Kawata explained that with their quality, fresh goods (products) can also be exported.

In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Manasseh Sogavare, Mr Kawata further pointed out that having a small population in comparison to its mass resources, Solomon Islands will have more than enough to offer for the world as most are now relying heavily on imported food products.

It is unfortunate that due to lack of proper quarantine base for these products, it becomes hard for them to make the international markets.

Kawata however pointed out that if the government can provide such kind of function infrastructures, Solomon’s fresh goods can flood the international market.

“Considering the food market outside the country where land is becoming scars and population growth. So it is just a matter of time for the global society to be short of food.”

He said many countries in the world, some of which have the biggest and fast growing economies, have increased their rates of importation in food products to feed their mass populations.

“100 percent of food products in the United Araba Emirates (UAE) are imported while Japan relies on 70 percent of its imported food.

“And having high quality in your products, Solomon Islands can take over as the major supplier for these nations.

“They are short of food, whereas here (Solomon Islands), the country is still rich in its resources, and there is still mass access to land for production of food, with a population growth that is also very small having compared to the resources,” the Cosmo representative explained.

He added that with these analysis, Solomon Islands could be a reliable and continuous exporter of food to the outside world in the future.

“According to our analysis, Solomon Islands is one of the great potential countries in the world,” he further added.

He also suggested that the initial support in the investment on local producers is very important if they wanted to utilise the potential capacity.

“We came here one week ago and throughout our stay here, we found that the quality of products in Solomon Islands is very good, very high, but it could not be explained very well.”

Using tuna as an example, Kawata explained that dark flakes of tuna is regarded as one of the lowest quality layer product in the industry and regular operation could not make it products on them for human consumption.

This, he said, “is because the dark flakes can easily be damaged and easy to rot, however Soltuna continues to take a lead in its export products, which includes the canned dark flakes (Second Grade Tayio).

“For other potential countries, the level of their quality control is making it very difficult but here, quality control is excellent.”

He said the fishing processes in which fish are caught have very little damages or no damages to the products.

“And the processing is also very quick and that is why dark flakes could be exported overseas and this is just an example. Dark flakes is the evidence of very good quality control of the product. We also found that there is very good quality in local cocoa products, based on opinions of small scale exporters that we visited.”

He also explained that low quality cocoa taste bitter that is why when most factories make chocolate, they put high contains of sugar and milk to cover the bitterness of the cocoa, something their company felt it is not good for human health.

“Too much sugar is not good for health but it is unfortunate that without sugar, they cannot mask the bitterness of the chocolate and that is why most chocolate in the world are very sweet,” Kawata explained.

He said with top grade cocoa like it has been identified in Solomon Islands, there is the chance that manufacturers will certainly produce chocolates with less sugar.

“Top grade cocoa can differentiate chocolates produced in the Solomon’s from others and this only gives a clear indication why Solomon Islands products have great potentials.”

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By Mike Puia

LANDOWNERS from Guadalcanal Province who represent the Tandai Tribal Land Association (TTLA) have requested recognition for allowing their land to host Solomon Islands’ capital city.

TTLA’s wish for recognition was conveyed by a member of the Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly, Mr John Nano.

“Our Tandai landowners wanted some recognition for having this city on their land,” Nano said.

He said for years the city has grown with little control by their tribal land association.

“In fact, this town has grown three times without the knowledge on the TTLA. The Association was never consulted.”

He said there are events, like the queen’s birthdays, where honours and awards are bestowed to individuals who render outstanding service to the country.

“Why not create an award to recognised landowners of this town? They willingly allow their land to host this town,” Nano said.

He said it can be small recognition like awards or programmes to benefit landowners or an invitation to landowners to attend city events.

Prior to World War II, Honiara did not exist. In 1952 it officially replaced Tulagi in the Central Islands Province as the capital of Solomon Islands.

Today the city is overcrowded and the Guadalcanal provincial government is not giving the government and the Honiara City Council permission for expansion.

Honiara land is among issues to be discussed during the planned Guadalcanal land summit in March.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Auki

RITE TRADE Logging Company’s move to log Suruniai tribal land in East Are Are is being questioned.

A Mr Aloysio Arukeni from Sihu village in East Are Are questions the eligibility of the land since it is not under the company’s concession agreement.

He said currently the logging company and members of his subsidiary licensee, Tai’are are manipulating individual landowners of Suruni’ai to sign the tribal land for harvesting.

Arukeni complains that the move taken is completely outside of the required legal proceeding under the forestry act.

“It is obvious that there is a standard legal requirement under the forestry act in placed to attain to customary land for harvesting. There must be land consultation to inform the land owners on the proposal, and public timber right-hearing must also conduct so landowners can share their views on the proposal. Nothing of such happened for landowners of Suruni’ai tribal land or people in the area to aware of it and Suruni’ai never under the company’s concession area.”

Arukeni said what everyone knows is the company’s concession area ends in Rani tribal land. He said the company had also recently put up a three-month notice that they would leave.

“Thus, the landowners want to know whether such approach is legal under the forestry act. And if its, why not all landowners consulted on the matter? The approach taken is like a broad daylight roping on the resource owners while they are there and undermine their rights to have any say on their resources.”

Arukeni calls upon the commissioner of forest to investigate this, and appeals to Rite Trade logging company, Tai’are licensee and individual landowners involved to follow legal procedures.

By Mike Puia

GUADALCANAL Province is planning to hold a huge land summit in Honiara next month.

The Guadalcanal land summit is supported by the provincial government, with support commitment coming from the National government and a UN agency.

Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly Member, John Nano, confirmed it will happen next month and all Guadalcanal leaders are expected to attend.

Asked about the agenda, Nano said it will cover almost everything concern Guadalcanal land.

“This summit will look at issues like the current land tenure system, future of Guadalcanal land, Honiara city land, everything about Guadalcanal land,” Nano confirmed.

He said they are still finalizing the actual day and venue of the event and soon they will send out invitation all across Guadalcanal.

Nano said it is hoped the outcome of the summit will be condensed into a report that will be the basis of their province’s land ordinances.

He said they wanted land ordinances or laws to suit the culture of Guadalcanal with regards to how lands are sold, transfer and so on.

“We expect leaders from all over the island representing the four region and 21 wards of Guadalcanal and 21 houses of chiefs to attend,” Nano said.