Fiji's Native Land Trust Board has confirmed that it is considering issuing 50-year leases for indigenous owned land.
The NLTB's new general manager, Kalivati Bakani, has told Fiji Tv that the board will try to convince landowners to lease land they are not using themselves.
Mr Bakani says they are trying to get rid of the negative image associated with indigenous land - such as short leases and roadblocks.
He says he wants to convince prospective tenants that leases on indigenous land will be secure.
Mr Bakani says the board wants the new leases to be under a modified Native Land Trust Act with some of what he calls "its obnoxious clauses" removed to make it more attractive to the tenants and with changes to the rent formula.
He concedes that the recent policy of the NLTB in not renewing leases indiscriminately has done a lot of damage to sugar cane production, the national economy and the incomes of indigenous landowners.
