Participatory value chain study for yasi sandalwood (Santalum yasi) in Fiji

ABSTRACT Santalum yasi (yasi) was first exploited in Fiji in the early 1800s and has been harvested periodically but heavily ever since. Yasi produces one of the most valuable sandalwoods, being high in α- and β-santalols and typically meeting the East Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) ISO standard for sandalwood oil. Although wild yasi stands are now near to commercial extinction, they are being replaced by rapidly expanding smallholder plantings throughout the Fiji archipelago. A value chain study is presented for yasi in Fiji for a 35-year period (1984–2018). The study was undertaken in 2018–2019, in a participatory manner, through interviews and consultations with the key value actors, comprising yasi owners and growers, buyers, local buyers and processors, international buyers and processors, and the Fiji Government’s Ministry of Forestry. The study’s focus was on the main yasi-producing and -processing islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Kadavu and the Lau Group. The yasi value chain has been operating suboptimally, with modest returns to tree owners, growers and the Fiji Government, a failure to develop a local yasi-oil and value-adding industry, and, until recently, a lack of yasi replanting. An ongoing constraint to increased plantings of yasi in Fiji is a lack of practical and efficient regulatory and trading frameworks that can provide security of investment for growers, including legal verification (chain of custody) to meet market requirements and curb illegal harvesting. Key findings of this study are: (1) there is a lack of yasi brand recognition and development in the international marketplace due to its substitution for S. album, adversely affecting all actors along the value chain; and (2) there is an opportunity for branding based on yasi’s natural properties and competitiveness. Recommendations are provided to improve the functioning of the yasi value chain in both the short and long terms for yasi tree owners (i-Taukei and smallholder growers), the Fiji Ministry of Forestry, and sandalwood buyers, processors and exporters. Given its high value and non-perishability, yasi has major and near-unique potential to contribute cash income to Fijian communities in remote island archipelagos. Fiji is well placed to develop a highly competitive and sustainable yasi sandalwood industry that delivers greater returns to tree owners, growers and processors through the development of high-quality plantings, enhanced governance and chain of custody, a yasi branding strategy, the development of local value-adding, and cooperation with major perfume houses and body-care-product companies.