6. Barriers to Future Economic Development
Attracting new investment and encouraging existing enterprises to commit to additional development remains a difficult prospect for the promoters of business activity in Southland. The district has a negative perception among many investors and there are important issues of proximity to markets and the availability of skilled labour. The principal barriers to further investment are summarised in the points below:
- continuing depopulation is robbing Southland of the more highly qualified members of the community. This is leading to labour shortages in key skill areas;
- Southland's distance from key internal markets and from international gateways is acting as a disincentive for activities that have high transport costs or require the rapid movement of their product to overseas markets (e.g. cut flowers for the United States have to be transported to Christchurch or Auckland for export by air);
- Southland has a negative perception among investors and potential migrants. It is viewed as a region of declining property values and service shortages. This makes it difficult to attract finance from the major lending institutions and to draw in skilled workers; and
- the potential forms of investment in Southland are fairly narrow. They are still predominantly land based, agricultural activities. There is little potential to make the Southland district the Silicon Valley of the Southern Hemisphere. This reliance on land based activities is a disincentive to investment, as returns from agricultural activities have been at historically low levels over the past two decades.
Overcoming these negative perceptions and economic limitations (e.g. labour and transportation issues) provides an opportunity for local and national organisations to pool their resources to promote the district.
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Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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