November 25, 2015
Planned workforce needed for Maori land
There’s a call for Maori asset managers to get smarter about workforce planning to ensure there will be younger Maori ready to manage their farms and forests.
Scientist Charlotte Severne, who joins Lincoln University next year as pro vice chancellor Maori and community, says young Maori need to be encouraged to consider careers on the land.
Dr Severne, who is chair and deputy chair of two large Ngati Tuwharetoa land truss, says the work needs to start back in primary schools and continue through into the sort of courses being offered by universities.
"Nobody in these nitrogen-capped, water quality and water quantity-capped catchments are going to have the luxury of just having a forest or just having a farm. These are going to be big fully integrated spatially controlled farms and forests to we have to think big which means our workforces are going to have to be well planned and well structured," she says.
Dr Severne says a lot of Maori land in the central North Island is set aside for heritage reasons, and that needs to be well managed by owners as well.
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