The Ministry of Itaukei Affairs will soon sell ‘Tabua’ or the whales tooth from its head office.
This is being done in an effort to promote and protect the iTaukei cultural heritage.
The government has allocated $100, 000 to the Ministry to support the initiative.
Permanent Secretary, Naipote Katonitabua says they will begin selling over 140 Tabuas that were confiscated by the NZ Border control and repatriated to Fiji.
Katonitabua says many are concerned with the prices of Tabua.
”It’s been too costly and expensive for them to buy from commercial operators. We have been given $100,000 to acquire a machine that would determine the cost of the Tabua in terms of its weight and to confirm whether it’s a genuine or not.”
The Ministry will also purchase the Tabua from pawn shops and sell it at affordable prices.
