disasters and agriculture in the pacific islands - Pacific Disaster Net

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that Samoans maintained subsistence securitythrough rapid transformations in their croppingsystems and diversification to other crops.Samoa's generally rocky and steep landscapelimits mechanisation, and the concomitantpressure for land consolidation. Thedistribution of village settlements along thecoast exceeds the productive capacity of soilsin these areas, particularly in more heavilypopulated parts of Upolu. Samoa has little leftof its once large forest area mainly because ithas been cleared for agriculture. The remainingforest is poor, degraded and mostly noncommercial.Much of land planted in taroduring the export boom of the early 1990s wasabandoned after the arrival of taro leaf blight.Some is now being used to grow kava.Samoan agriculture is almost entirely smallholderbased. Only 1 per cent of holdings aremore than 40 ha., and 90 per cent are less than8 ha., usually divided amongst severalparcels. '6 Present land use is a blend of twofarming systems where subsistence villagecropping (taro, bananas, other root crops,mixed vegetable gardens and various minorcrops) has had a plantation cropping system(coconuts, cocoa) imposed upon it sinceEuropean contact. Intercropping is oftenpractised, using various cultivars. Farrell andWard (1962) described three zones of villageland use; the structure of which remainsessentially intact today:a zone of coconut, much of which is oldand little managed, located immediatelybehind the coastal villages and extendinginland;a mixed crop zone of cocoa, banana, taro,and minor crops and a variety of fallowland, inland from the coconut zone; anda zone of taro of plots and fallow extendingfrom the mixed crop zone to the forestboundary.Principal cropsTable 4 shows single crop equivalent areas forSamoa's major crops, derived from the lastagricultural census (1989). There have been,however, quite dramatic changes in croppingpatterns due to the cyclones of 1990 and 1991and the arrival of taro leaf blight.Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is Samoa'straditionalsubsistence staple. Samoa's soil and climateoffer favourable conditions for taro, allowing itto be harvested in 7 months or less. The 1989Agricultural Census indicated that nearly15,000 hectares was planted in taro, of which76 per cent was pure stand, 23 percent mixedstand (mainly with ta'amu and banana) and 1per cent scattered plants. In the early 1990s, itwas estimated that taro accounted for 39 percent of Samoans' diet in Upolu and 43 per centin Savai'i. It was also Samoa's major exportearner and was being exported in everincreasingquantities. Following cyclones Ofaand Val, planting of taro significantlyincreased to compensate for income lost fromcoconuts and cocoa. Deregulation of marketingalso allowed farmers to take advantage of goodmarket conditions. But the heavy dependenceon one crop brought with it its own risk. Bythe end of 1994, the rapid spread of taro leafblight had brought Samoa's subsistence andcommercial taro industry to an abrupt halt. Inthe absence of effective controls, taroproduction had declined to almost negligiblelevels. While there has been some recovery insubsistence supplies, taro may never resume itsposition as Samoa's staple food crop.Giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza) or ta'amu istraditionally the fourth most important staple,after taro, bananas, and breadfruit. It is oftenintercropped with taro or, in the drier areas,grown as a stand-alone crop. Ta'amu is bothdrought and cyclone resistant and is the mostimportant reserve food. While it normallytakes 18 to 24 months to reach maturity, animportant food security attribute of ta'amu isthat the tubers can be held in the ground up tofour years. A long drought in 1989 led to asubstantial depletion of ta'amu reserves andthus reserve stocks were low at the timecyclone Ofa struck in 1990.Yams (Dioscorea spp.) and tapioca (manihotesculentus) are minor crops in Samoa.Traditionally, yams are consumed as a foodsupplement when available. Tapioca isregarded as a distinctly inferior food that iseaten at times of shortages but otherwise fed topigs. There has, however, been a distinctincrease in cassava consumption following thetaro leaf blight.Bananas (Musa spp.) have now replaced taro asSamoa's main subsistence crop. They areusually cooked green and eaten as a starch. Inthe early 1990s, they normally accounted for23 per cent of food requirements in Upolu and16 per cent in Savai'i, with families consumingone bunch per day on average 17 . Bananas isnow very much a subsistence17 Survey cited in Clarke, 1992:6916 Fairbairn, 1993
crop; according to the 1989 AgriculturalCensus 87 per cent of households growingbananas did so only for householdconsumption. This was not always the case, forduring the 1960s and 1970s a significantbanana export industry to New Zealandexisted. A combination of cyclone damage,disease and, most importantly, competitionfrom Ecuador and Philippines led to the demiseof this industry.Breadfruit (Ariocarpus altilis) planted aroundvillages is Samoa's third most important foodcrop. During the season, families on averageconsume 9 breadfruit per day on Upolu and10.5 per day on Savai'i. 18 Most breadfruitvarieties have two fruit seasons a year butseveral Samoan cultivars have three or evenfour seasons per year.Coconuts, which have long dominatedagriculture in Samoa, have a central place insubsistence as a food and as a building andweaving material, and also offer villagers alow-risk source of cash income. According tothe 1989 agricultural census, 96 per cent of allhouseholds were involved in coconutproduction, mostly in small-holdings averagingaround 6 ha. The importance of coconuts insubsistence is evident in that 52 per cent ofhouseholds produced coconuts only for homeconsumption. Only 5 per cent producedcoconuts predominately for sale. Based on thiscensus, the World Bank (1991) estimatedhousehold coconut consumption to be 8,900tonnes copra equivalent, approximatelyequivalent to commercial copra, coconut oil,and coconut cream production. After years ofdecline, accelerated by recent cyclone damage,the non-subsistence coconut industry is nowexperiencing a significant resurgence. In 1996,coconut products-copra, coconut oil, coconutcream, and fresh coconuts-were Samoa's mainexport by value, earning $16.4 million, or 66per cent of the total. This recovery can beexplained by a combination of factors The recovery of the productive base ofthe industry since the 1990 and 1992hurricanes. The palms that survived thecyclones have now fully recovered withyields approaching their normal level.While accurate estimates of permanenttree loss are not available, WESTEC puttheir losses at around 10 to 15 per cent 19 .There was some replanting through abonus-planting scheme. The recovery of world market prices inthe last few years. The sustainability of the coconut creamindustry. Coconut cream production andexport earnings have remainedremarkably consistent over the lastdecade, despite adversity. The twoprivate coconut cream factoriescontinued to operate in spite of thecyclones by importing nuts fromTokelau, Tonga, and Fiji. The privatisation of coconut oilprocessing industry.The loss of taro as a profitable crop forsmall holders.Making copra and selling husked nuts has becomea profitable activity for Samoan small-holders,compared with alternative uses for their labour andland resources. At the end of 1995, farmersreceived $715 per tonne of copra, at which pricecollecting and making copra generated a grossmargin of $10-15 a day, 20 comparable to nonskilledwage rates. But while Samoan smallholdersare prepared to produce18 Clarke, 199219 ADB 199520 ADB, 1995Table 4: Single crop equivalent area of major cropsCrop Household sector Plantation sector Total area(ha) (ha) (ha)Coconut 23,300 4,400 27,700Cocoa 6,600 1,900 8,400Taro 51,300 - 18,200Giant Taro (Ta'amu) 3,300 - 3,300Banana 3,600 - 2,300Yam 300 - 200Other vegetables 600 - 600Source: GOWS/FAO 1990
Page 1: DISASTERS ANDISBN: 982-364-006-8AGR
Page 5 and 6: List of MapsMap1 The Region........
Page 7 and 8: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSNumerous people con
Page 9 and 10: The Pacific island region is a regi
Page 11 and 12: 1. DISASTERS AND PACIFIC ISLAND AGR
Page 13 and 14: American Samoa Unincorporated US 24
Page 17 and 18: CyclonesCyclones are the most promi
Page 19 and 20: to the drought but exact numbers we
Page 21 and 22: holdings in the “renovation” of
Page 23: 2. DISASTERS AND AGRICULTURE IN POL
Page 28 and 29: copra and husked nuts at this price
Page 30 and 31: place, i.e. taro at about 6-7 month
Page 32 and 33: cocoa 35 . Only 2 tonnes of dried c
Page 34 and 35: the country lost its main food and
Page 36 and 37: A major export industry that was ge
Page 38 and 39: 4. 5.
Page 40 and 41: Table 10: Kadavu land-use and farm
Page 42 and 43: Table 12: Kadavu Copra Production:
Page 44 and 45: there had been a more adequate and
Page 46 and 47: \the soil and vegetation complex, c
Page 51 and 52: Together, this has limited the scop
Page 53 and 54: household, calculated to be one mon
Page 55 and 56: Table 15 ... continuedCyclone Date
Page 57: Table 19: Projected short-fall in t
Page 61 and 62: production of 35 to 50 percent 78 a
Page 63 and 64: Subsistence crops in the form of co
Page 65 and 66: food garden (in their first second
Page 67 and 68: eappear to fruit within six months.
Page 69 and 70: Cattle-rearing is perhaps the most
Page 71 and 72: Table 22: Damage Caused by Cyclone
Page 73 and 74: Table 23: Cyclones, copra, and econ
Page 75 and 76: )Samoa. Sufficient knowledge and pr
Page 77 and 78:
Fergus, the NDMO made the unprecede
Page 79 and 80:
5. DISASTERS AND AGRICULTURE ON ATO
Page 81 and 82:
THE GEOGRAPHY OF TUVALU: ASUMMARYc)
Page 83 and 84:
Table 27: The coconut and its uses
Page 85 and 86:
Funafuti, Nukufetau and Nanumea, su
Page 87 and 88:
than 500 tops per person which undo
Page 89:
ecause of the high, brackish water
Page 92 and 93:
marked disparities, with no rationa
Page 94 and 95:
Table 29: The susceptibility of Pac
Page 96 and 97:
Table 30: The susceptibility of Pac
Page 98 and 99:
No major pest orSugar The crop, nat
Page 100 and 101:
Planners' targets were unrealistica
Page 102 and 103:
THE COST OF DISASTERS TO THEAGRICUL
Page 104 and 105:
Table 34: Results of regressions to
Page 106 and 107:
a more ill-conceived crop choice ba
Page 108 and 109:
equivalent to about 11 per cent of
Page 111 and 112:
7. RECOMMENDATIONS ON COST-EFFECTIV
Page 113 and 114:
approximately equivalent to that of
Page 115 and 116:
Table 39: An indicative budget for
Page 117 and 118:
impacts are often correlated with,
Page 119 and 120:
Hazard information needs to incorpo
Page 121 and 122:
cost- effective to invest several m
Page 123:
with adequate resources for its rap
Page 126 and 127:
costs where the steeplands meet the
Page 128:
Development Bank, Manila.Twyford 1.
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