disasters and agriculture in the pacific islands - Pacific Disaster Net

It is recommended that the Pacific Communityis the appropriate organisation to produce theseposters. The cost of this project is estimated at$US15, 000 to $US20,OOO.POLICIES AND MEASURES TO REDUCE RISKAND MINIMISE THE IMPACT OF DISASTERSON AGRICULTUREland degradation in Fiji's ginger industry 131 .Their proposal was that farmers who meet thegood husbandry provision of their lease qualifyfor a cash subsidy to be paid toward thefarmer's own labour (75 per cent of costs) usedin planting vegetative strips and leucaenahedge rows and in constructing drains. Therationale for such a subsidy is to offset thefarmer's preference for immediate cashearnings, as opposed to investment in longertermconservation measures. Similarly, the useof taxes can be used to internalise longer-termenvironmental costs that society pays into theprivate costs incurred by land users. Forexample, Tonga currently faces the prospect ofpolluted ground water as a result of excessiveagrochemical use in the squash industry.Serious consideration needs to given to pricingagrochemicals to reflect the true cost to societyof producing squash under the present packageof practices.Land-use planningThe impact of a given natural disaster will be \determined by how land is utilised: what cropsare grown, where they grown, how they aregrown, and when they are grown. It alsodepends on the state of the forest cover in thecatchment area for this not only protects thesoil but provide a food bank at times ofdisasters. Land-use planning therefore appearsto offer a good opportunity to minimise theimpact of natural disasters on agriculture. Yetthere is very little scope for regulating Pacificisland farmers in terms of what, where, how,and when they grow crops. The landowner, orthe land owning group, determines how theland is used. In Fiji, there are strong lawsgoverning the husbandry of leased native landand land governed by Conservation Boards.The Native Land Trust Board, which managesthe leasing of native land, has wide powers toensure sustainable land use, requiring tenants"to farm and manage the land in such a way asto preserve its fertility." A "certificate of badhusbandry" can be issued on the basis of whicha lease can be terminated. These provisionsinclude prohibitions on planting of crops onslopes exceeding 15°. Yet they are virtuallynever enforced, as is common in other Pacificisland countries.As the Kadavu case study indicated, thedriving force behind the changing land-usepattern is economic change. Information,access to technology, the availability ofplanting material and access to credit,however, also influence what crops are grownand how they are grown. All these could beused as instruments to encourage agro-forestryon degraded sugar land and to encourage theplanting of vetiver grass as a soil conservationmeasure.One aim of sustainable development is tointegrate social and environmental costs intoeconomic activities. There is place for the useof judicious subsidies to encourage sustainableland-use where a large gap exists betweensocial and private costs. Buresova andMcGregor recommended a fiscal 'carrot' aspart of an overall package to discourage131 Buresova and McGregor, 1990: 254.There is some scope for influencing thelocation in which certain crops are grown.Ginger grown on steep slopes in Fiji is a majorcause of siltation in the Rewa River, incurringsubstantial annual costs in dredging to reducethe risk of flooding during the torrential rainthat accompanies cyclones. Government hasbeen unable to enforce good husbandryregulations in these areas. However,withdrawing extension support for ginger insteep areas provides some scope forinfluencing land-use. A proactive approach canbe taken in this respect by taking into accountthe disaster risk involved in promoting crops incertain areas.In most countries around one hundred years'worth of data are now available on cyclonepaths and intensities. They indicate that someareas have lower probabilities of cyclonedamage-such as in Fiji the CakaudroveProvince, apart from Taveuni. The risk here formajor horticultural development couldtherefore be considered significantly less thanin other parts of Fiji. It would be worthwhile tosystematically incorporate this information intoagricultural hazard maps. These maps could beused to attract investors in agriculture, whomay otherwise perceive the whole of Fiji (orany other country) to pose too high a cyclonerisk. These maps could also be used to obtainreasonable disaster insurance cover for certainareas. In Fiji, the JICA WatershedManagement Study would enable flood hazardinformation to also be incorporated in maps forViti Levu. Information on the probability ofdroughts could also be included, althoughavailable data are less accurate.