Stimulating investment in pearl farming in ... - World Fish Center

Page 9sell spat to the larger operators, while also accumulating the adult shells, capital and skillsnecessary to move into actual pearl culture should they wish.This industry segmentation is very suitable for a country like Solomon Islands, where there isa need to provide rural dwellers with income-earning opportunities. Because farming ofwhite-lip does not generally involve collection of spat from the wild, there are feweropportunities for participation by smaller players in the industry and this may make it lesssuitable as a development option for Solomon Islands than black-lip.Even in the case of black-lip, however, small farmers will only be able to participate in theindustry if there are larger operators present to provide a market for spat and juvenile shell. Inaddition, a critical mass of shell to be implanted is needed before it becomes economicallyfeasible to bring in a seeding technician. If one or more large operators are in place, each withseveral hundred thousand shell under culture, then a seeding technician can be hired toimplant these shell as well as those of any smallholders in the vicinity. Without this criticalmass it becomes difficult and costly to organise for a seeding technician to implant smallnumbers of shell held in numerous widely scattered locations.3.3. MarketingThe primary method of marketing pearls is to sell them through auctions or speciallyorganised gatherings of pearl and jewellery buyers, either in consumer countries or, where thevolume of product warrants it, in the country of production. Hong Kong is a primary centrefor pearl auctions, but they are also held in many other locations.When selling at auction, pearls are typically organised into lots which may contain severaldozen or just a few pearls of varying quality. This arrangement prevents buyers from pickingonly the best specimens, and leaving the seller with unsold lower-value pearls. Because of thevolume of product required to allow parcelling of the pearls into lots, only larger-scaleproducers can effectively participate in auctions. As noted earlier, there have been efforts toconsolidate the production from small farmers through collective marketing arrangements,with partial success.Smaller farmers may market direct to the jewellery trade, locally or overseas, or to thegeneral public. This often leads to indiscriminate marketing to buyers who may not besufficiently knowledgeable about pearl quality to judge good from bad. Subsequent problemswith the pearls give a bad name to the product and depress demand and prices across theboard.Quality control is therefore a critical issue. In both French Polynesia and Cook Islands themarketing of poor quality pearls has damaged the industry. In some cases this is a result offarmers harvesting too early, leading to pearls with only a thin nacreous layer thatsubsequently cracks or wears off. In others very low-grade pearls have been sold that wouldnormally have been rejected and destroyed. Pearls are a high-end luxury product andexperience in other countries has shown that industry revenues are maximised by marketingonly the best-quality product, maintaining the image of rarity and exclusivity, and keepinglow-grade pearls off the market altogether, preferably by destroying them.If the problem of pearl quality can be overcome then there are strong prospects fordeveloping local pearl and pearl shell jewellery products in the country of production, for saleto tourists and other visitors. Local jewellers can add significant value to the base product andprovide mementos and souvenirs that attract premium prices from visitors. In other pearlfarming countries, retail pearls and pearl jewellery are more expensive when purchased incountrythan when purchased overseas, where they tend to be competing with a range of