Lincoln University Digital Dissertation - Lincoln University Research ...

turn up and say you have got to do this and you have got to do that. There is
[also] the reality that Maori are not on the same starting block as other land
owners in this country because they cant use the land resource and culturally
its not ideal, to use it to raise finance, to use it you know as collateral and the
banks wont look at it in any case, but it doesn’t have that ability. But for non-
Maori it is a chattel. You know it is something they can raise finance in and all
that so its something that they can use in a business environment in a
different way that Maori would; but having said that, for a lot of Maori their
success factors may not all be financial whereas for businesses the success
factors are primarily financial. Your success as a Maori land owner may just
be the retention of that land, and the ability to still use it for some sort of
traditional uses and that might just be just being able to go out and harvest a
crop or being able to access waterways to harvest tuna [eels] and that sort of
thing. So looking for different successes… it’s not just about that one isolated
bit of whenua or that taewa that you plant. In Maori terms everything
contributes to everything else, you can’t isolate.” (Grower 1)
“We grow [taewa] for our own use and I sell a few. We really don’t get enough
seed to go commercial if you know what I mean. Just at local markets, gate
sales, you’re not going to get rich by it but… it’s not about money.” (Grower 4)
“There is a commercial element to what we do but the setup growing taewa
was initially an opportunity to create something alongside my mahi [work]…
that allowed me to still get outside and be working with crops and working with
the land. I wanted something that would still allow me to get out and still work
with the crops.” (Grower 1)
Despite the fact that growers did not identify economic outputs amongst their
primary reasons for growing taewa, they are quick to site the need to be
economically sufficient in today’s world and do identify taewa production as a
potential means for economic growth. Growers described their belief that the
resources are there to ensure their well-being and survival as Maori, and see
taewa as being able to contribute towards that.
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