The Ōmāpere Taraire E & Rangihāmama X3A Ahu Whenua Trust is reporting strong progress as restored land returns to productive use after more than a decade of development.
With support from Te Tumu Paeroa, the Office of the Māori Trustee, large areas of the whenua have been brought back into pastoral farming, horticulture, forestry, and conservation.
Contract milker and land descendant Clinton Mokaraka says the transformation has been significant.
“The biggest change that we’ve made here, obviously the production. But, bringing land back into production from gorse and weeds. Converting it back into land that we can actually produce off has been a big difference.”
Partnership structure
The trust has worked alongside Te Tumu Paeroa to ensure the land remains protected in the event of financial difficulty.
Together, they created a strategy establishing a limited partnership to lease the land, with both parties holding a 50/50 share.
The Rangihāmama block covers 573 hectares, located 3km south of Kaikohe, while the Ōmāpere block spans 1,418 hectares, 3km north of the town.
The trust contributed the land to the partnership, and Te Tumu Paeroa invested in developing the dairy unit, including cattle and Fonterra shares.
Te Tumu Paeroa Kaitiaki Māori, Dr Charlotte Severne says the partnership, now more than a decade old, has delivered secure and sustainable outcomes for the trust.
“In March 2014 they started the venture. So, it became a limited partnership, and what it did was limited the liability of those invested. So, it protected the land and then through the general partnership, we were able to run this operation.”
Returning value to shareholders
Mokaraka says the work is demanding, but the responsibility to his whānau and shareholders is a privilege.
“What I’m doing here isn’t just for me. I’ve got 4000 shareholders that are trusting in me to make things work here. I’ve got staff working for me, and their livelihood is very much dependent on me making the right decisions.
“It’s a good feeling to be given that responsibility to take care of a place. I’m only a temporary person, but if I can set it up for the next person to continue and leave their legacy, I’ll be happy with that achievement.”
Full iwi ownership
Nō na tata nei puta ai te kōrero kua riro i te rōpū whakahaere whenua o Ōmāpere me Rangihāmama te katoa o ngā hea i Te Tumu Paeroa.
Ka mutu, i ikapahi atu ngā iwi whai pānga ki te pāmu miraka ki Rangihāmama, e kitea ai te whanaketanga o taua whenua rā, me te rongo hoki i ngā āhuatanga kua tutuki i te rōpū whakahaere whenua.
Hei tā Severne ehara i te mahi ngāwari noa te whakaora anō i te whenua, engari mā te ngātahitanga e oti ai ngā mahi.
“Just over 10 years of a joint venture that lived through the ups and downs of Māori development. You’re putting whenua at the centre of your discussions, and that’s what these trustees have done, they’ve put the whenua at the centre, and they’ve looked at actually what do we do to protect and enhance this whenua, but actually have an economic base for the whānau.”
Otirā, ko tāna e matapaetia nei, kāre e mutu noa ngā mahi ki Ōmāpere, ki Rangihāmama.
“We’re working now with a whole bunch of properties that are the corpus of the Māori Trustee. The minister of Māori development gave us two million dollars to work up 10 business cases, similar to this. So, we’ll take the money that we invested in Ōmāpere, Rangihāmama Trust, and we’ll put it into these projects.”
I roto i te rangi kotahi noa, e 500 ngā kau e whakatētētia nei e Mokaraka me āna kaimahi tuatahi i te ata, tuarua i te ahiahi.
Ā ko ngā mahi kūtētē i ngā kau tētahi o ōna whāinga mō te taonga ahuwhenua hei te tau e tū mai nei.
“The trust has already won ahuwhenua for the sheep and beef. It would be nice to even just be apart of the process. Give it a go for the dairy, like I said, that would be my World Cup.”
Ko te ānamata hoki o ngā mahi ahuwhenua tētahi aronga hei ngā tau e tū mai nei, me te aha, e hīkaka ana a Mokaraka ki te whāngai i ngā rangatahi ki ngā mātauranga ahuwhenua.
“For me, it’s about mentoring them and giving them the confidence to bring out what they are capable of doing.”
