LAND, CANE AND COCONUTS Papers· on the rural economy of Fiji LAND, CANE AND COCONUTS Fiji Papers on the rural economy of LAND, CANE AND COCONUTS Fiji Papers on the rural econom·y of H. C. BROOKFIELD F. ELLIS R. G. WARD Department of Human Geography Publication HG/17 Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian National University Canberra First published in Aus tral ia 1985 Printed in Aus tral ia for The Aus tral ian National Un iversity The Au stralian National Un iversity 1985 © This book is copyright . Apart from any fair deal ing for the purpose of study , re search , criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act , no part may be reproduced by any process wi thout written permi ssion. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. National Lib rary of Aus tralia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Brookfield , H. C. (Harold Chillingworth) , 1926-. Land , cane and coconut s. Bibliography ISBN 0 86784 727 1. 1. Ag riculture - Economic aspects - Fij i. 2. Fij i - Ru ral conditions . I. Ellis , Frank , 1947-. II. Ward , R. Ge rard (Ralph Gerard) , 1933-. III. Au stralian National Un iversity. Dept . of Human Geography . IV. Title . (Series: Publication (Australian Nat ional Un iversity. Dept . of Human Geography ); HG/17). 338. 1 '0996'11 Department of Human Geography Publications are edited in the Department , in the Re search School of Pacific Studies , The Au stralian Na tional Un iversity, and are distributed by BIBLIOTECH, ANUTECH Pty Ltd , G. P.O. Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601 , Australia . v TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents v Editor' s preface vi Contributors viii No te on Fij ian orthography and terms ix General map of Fij i showing principal places named in the text x Introduction to Papers 1, 2 and 3 by Frank Ellis 11 1. Land , Land Use and Land Av ailability 15 R. Ge rard Ward 2. Employment and Incomes in the Sugar Industry 65 Frank Ellis 3. An Hi storical and Prospective Analysis of the Coconut Districts 111 Harold Brookfield Li st of terms , abbreviations and acronyms 249 List of Department of Human Geography Publications 253 NOTE Contents of the three substantive papers are listed at the beginning of each paper vi EDITOR 'S PREFACE In view of the Introduction provided below by Frank Ellis , which describes the background and origin of the se papers , only a brief editorial preface is nece ssary. Pre sent and past members of the Department of Human Geography have done a great deal of wo rk in Fiji, beginning almost 30 years ago in the 1950s , and the tradition has been continued . Seven members of academic staff have wo rked in the country and five doctoral theses have been written on Fij ian topics. In addition , the first South Pacific islander to obtain a PhD in Geography was a Fij ian , and wo rked in this Depar tment though he did his field research elsewhere . While the present collection arises from a recent expe rience in whi ch two members of staff were involved , their papers here al so draw heavily on earlier research. Among this substantial contribution , special mention should be made of Profe ssor Oskar Spate 's monumental and influential report on The Fij ian People : economic problems and prospects (Fij i Legislative Council Paper 13 of 1959, Suva : Government Printer) . Oskar may be said to have set a fashion which others have tried to follow , that of relating re search to problems of pol icy in development . Fij i is a small country , but contains great variety, and as the mo st developed country in the South Pacific island region it al so has more economic and social diversity than mo st of its neighbours . This publication is concerned with aspects of Fij i's rural economy , and the diversity is underlined by the fact that we treat of frontiers of agricultural expansion on the one hand , and of a region in economic decline on the other. The papers are intended to inform and al so to advise . Since they are sectoral papers , they do not attempt to take account of the whole context of Fij ian policy-making in rural areas except in so far as a knowledge of this context provides background . Nor do they cover all the problems of rural Fij i; attention is focus sed on land , employment and innovation , and it will be no ted that while in one industry we see a great need for innovation, in another we see advantages in re sisting the adoption of a more capital-intensive technology. We do no t expect universal agreement with what we say , in Fij i or elsewhere . Indeed , an anonymous economist who read these papers in an earlier form disagreed mo st strongly with our whole approach and castigated us for no t adopting free-market principles in our analysis. We have taken heed of his wo rds , but to have followed all of his advice would clearly have led us toward very different vii conclusions from those which we reach , conclusions which we hope are informed by an understanding , albeit critical , of Fij ian realities . We thank two anonymous referees for comments which we have tried to incorporate , and Dr G.J.R. Linge who undertook the task of obtaining , interpreting and re inforcing these comments, since the serie s editor is also an author in this case . We particul arly thank Dr Manfred Bienefeld , who as team leader of the EEC Employment and Development Mi ssion did some painstaking wo rk on our early drafts and has encouraged us to publish the re sults. Though each of us adds hi s own individual acknowledgements , we collectively thank all those who helped us in Fij i and in Canberra , and in particular Pauline Fal coner and Carol McKenzie for the ir excellent wo rk in wo rd-processing the text. Theo Baumann , Nigel Duffey , Manlio Panc ino and Ke ith Mi tche ll have all had a hand in producing our maps and diagrams . Yvonne Byron has assi sted in the final editorial wo rk. The three pape rs are unequal in length and in nature . We have varied series convention slightly by divid ing the longest of the three into chapters in order to provide an additional level of sub-heading; in view of the differences full standardization has not been possible. Some conflicts of statement between different papers have been allowed to stand . The imperfections that remain are the responsibility of the series editor, to whom they should be sheeted home . H.C. Brookfield Canberra September 1985 viii CONTRIBUTORS HAROLD BROOKFIELD , Profe ssor of Human Geography and Head of the Department of Human Geography , The Austral ian National University, G. P.O. Box 4, Canberra , A.C.T. 2601, Australia. FRANK ELLIS , Lecturer in Economics, School of Development Studies , University of East Anglia, Norwich , NR4 7TJ, England . R. GE RARD WARD , Director of the Re search School of Pacific Studies and Profe ssor of Human Geography , The Australian National University, G. P.O. Box 4, Canberra , A. C.T. 2601, Aus tralia. ix NOTE ON FIJIAN ORTHOGRAPHY AND TERMS The standard Fij ian spelling of names and terms is used throughout thi s publication . For those who are unfamiliar with this spelling , it will be useful to note that : 'b' 'd' and 'g' are pre-nasalized , being pronounced 'mb' , 'nd' and 'ng' 'c' is always soft , pronounced 'th' 'q' is a heavily pre-nasalized 'g' , pronounced 'ngg ' as in 'finger ' It will be he lpful to present again a val uable aid to understand ing (or obfuscation) contributed by Oskar Spate : A mbastarndly mbarman from Ba Onthe mbythyklend all ambout Ra A ngirl from eathh koro (village) He 'nd kerekere or mbo rrow Ad ce mbambies we re mborn in ce mbar . Except for names , however, we have in general avo ided using Fij ian terms where international terms are available. Thus we use 'taro ' and no t 'dalo' , and 'chief ' rather than 'ratu' , though in the latter case and some others the translation is not exact . Use of descent-g roup terms is restricted , and is explained whe re it occurs , except that mataqali , the des cent-group level by which collective Fij ian land-ownership is registered no t always accurately - is some times used without explanation. Indigenous Fij ians are referred to as 'Fij ians ', while the descendants of Indian immigrants are re ferred to as 'Inda-Fij ians ' and not as 'Indians', a usage which we are pleased to see becoming more common . 'Part-Europeans ' are the descendant s of mixed unions , usually between Fij ians and immigrants of European origin . One term is unavoidable . This is 'yaqona' (yanggona), being both the Piper methysticum plant , and the drink made by solution of its powdered root or stem in wa ter. Elsewhere in the Pacific known as 'kava ', this mildly narcotic 'Fij i grog' is immensely popular, having spread from ceremonially re stricted use to become the common drink of Fij ians and many Inda-Fij ians , consumed both with trad itional ceremony and also on the mo st casual occasions . x 177' 179' C\:::> Cikobia 179' 12' 30 c:;::) 12' 30 Rotuma NORTHERN DIVISION 16' 16' Oe�levu 177' .. 177' 178' 1 rJ>Yasawa > " 1/ 17 () Ya saw a 17' I) !/}!1Nav1t1 ' Group � Waya WESTERN LAU . '\> Tuvuca Cl Cicia \) Na yau 18' Gau \) Yadrana FIJ Tubou� Lakeba Vanua Vatu 0 Oneata 0 GROUP M <ifMoala 0 oce 0 • 0 Namuka-1-Lau EASTERN DIVISION CJ = Q Ono Totoya (fD Kabara () .