Finance Minister, Professor Biman Prasad in Labasa [Source: Fiji Government/Facebook]

Finance Minister, Professor Biman Prasad claims issues related to land have been ignored by the previous government.

Prasad says the People’s Coalition Government is determined to provide viable solutions in the best interest of landowners and tenants.

He adds they’ve taken a proactive approach, with the establishment of a taskforce to deal with land lease issues in the country.

“I have every confidence that after so many years of not paying attention to the land lease problems and land lease issues, this government is determined to provide some credible and well thought out solutions which will be in the interest of both landowners and tenants and other stakeholders.”

Prasad says it is important for the government to address these issues, to ensure the agriculture sector is able to share some load from the tourism sector as the major contributor to the economy.

He says the government’s objective is to diversify the economy, through the development of the agriculture sector.

The taskforce includes the Ministry of Lands, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development, Ministry of Finance, as well as the iTaukei Land Trust Board.

It plans to conduct consultations with landowners and tenants to resolve land lease issues.