Ministry Warns Lakeba Villagers About Sandalwood Market Price

Villagers in Lakeba, Lau, have been advised not to get tempted easily by business people offer­ing large sums of money for their san­dalwood trees (yasi).

This comes after Mafi Dakai of Tubou Village, said he was offered $40,000 by an Asian businessman to buy a sandal­wood tree that was 21 years old.

Sandalwood, first harvested and ex­ploited in the early 1800s in the coun­try by European settlers at Bua Bay in Vanua Levu, is heavy, yellow in colour, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades.

Sandalwood oil can also be extracted from the wood for use in food prepara­tion and has great economic potential.

He refused the offer, but the business­man increased it to $50,000; still Mr Dakai refused.

After relaying the offer to the Ministry of Forests, he was advised that current market price range from $80 to $100 per kilogram.

The tree is just beside his house in Tu­bou and he has another that is 10 years old.

Mr Dakai said his 21-year-old sandalwood tree was the oldest in Lakeba. Mr Dakai said he was monitoring the market price of sandal­wood in India closely.

Recently, he said an Asian business­man was buying sandalwood from the island, but at a lower price.

The sandalwood tree owners needed money, he said and they sold them at the businessman’s price.

He also said there were some wild san­dalwood trees on the island.

“A few years ago villagers found a very big sandalwood tree and they had agreed to harvest it for their village housing project,” Mr Dakai said.

“However, a group of youths got to it first, harvested the tree on a Sunday and sold it to a businessman in Suva.”

He said the matter was not reported to Police by the villagers.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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