disasters and agriculture in the pacific islands - Pacific Disaster Net

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have created exotic grasslands on the driersides of the larger islands. The dominantvegetation type, covering about 34 percent ofVanuatu, is a disturbed low canopy thicketbush (Table 21).Both human activities and natural events suchas volcanic eruptions and frequent cycloneshave disturbed the native forest cover. Theforest inventory project showed much variationin the forest cover of the different islands,mainly related to population density and landuse. Islands with the highest populationdensities Paama and the Shepherds no longerhave any significant native forest cover. Thosewith more than 40 percent forest cover TafeaProvince and Banks and Torres Islands haveamong the lowest population densities.Of the national population of nearly 170,000people, approximately 20 percent live in thetwo urban centres of Port Vila and Luganville.The population grew around 2.8 per cent peryear over the decade 1979-89, growing slower(2.6 per cent) in the rural areas and faster (4.7per cent) in the urban areas, because of urbanmigration 82 . Urbanisation increasesvulnerability to natural disasters. For example,rural people supply their urban relatives with asignificant amount of root crops, usually inexchange for past and future obligations,exchange flows that can be cut off by acyclone on the home island. The last 100 yearshave also seen the movement of people fromupland areas to the coast, which has increasedtheir vulnerability to natural disasters such ascyclones.The rural population is dispersed amongst theislands and has limited communications withthe82 ADB, 1997.Table 21: Vegetation cover of Vanuatu.Vegetation type Area (ha.) Per cent ofland areaMid·height forest (20-30m) 205,300 16.7Low forest (10-20m) 234,100 19.1Woodland«10m) 400 0.1Thickets (3-8m) 433,900 35.4Scrub (3m) 45,000 3.7Grassland 51,100 4.2Swamps 2,300 0.2Mangroves 2,500 0.2Bareground/human made 252,300 20.6Total land area 1,226,900 100urban centres, necessitating a relatively highdegree of self-reliance in times of disaster.Rural population densities are uneven, beinghigh in some locations and sparse in others.Land ownership is a fundamental aspect of theindigenous culture, and 'custom' relationshipsrestrict the use of land for economicdevelopment. Some more densely populatedislands have a shortage of land and there hasbeen substantial out-migration to urban centresand other islands. These crowded islands aremost vulnerable to natural disasters. Givencurrent land use practices and populationgrowth rates, land shortages may becomeevident on a national scale within thirty toforty years, presenting a prospect of muchgreater national vulnerability to disasters.Agriculture in the Vanuatu economyAgriculture is more important to the economyof Vanuatu than in any other Pacific islandcountry. Vanuatu does not have themanufacturing base of Fiji, the mineral andforestry resources of Papua New Guinea, theforestry resources of the Solomon Islands, themarine resources of Micronesia, nor the accessto remittances of the Polynesian countries.Over the last five years, the contribution ofagricultural products (copra, cocoa, coffee,kava, and squash) to visible exports rangedfrom 69 to 75 per cent. According to StatisticsOffice and Reserve Bank estimates, agricultureaccounts for 19 per cent of GDP at constant1983 prices, and 15 per cent at current pricesbut this is probably an under-estimate giventhat subsistence was estimated to contribute amere 9 per cent at 1983 constant prices and 7.5per cent at current prices.Agriculture dominates the Vanuatu economy,even more than official statistics mightsuggest. At least 80 per cent of the ni-Vanuatupopulation live in the rural areas and areinvolved in agriculture, mainly providing fortheir own subsistence. Much of the ni-Vanuatupopulation in urban and peri-urban areassupplement their household cash incomethrough food gardening. While less than halfof Vanuatu's arable land is under any form ofcultivation, the agricultural population isskilled in traditional horticultural gardeningand, in the commercial sector; there is a poolof agribusiness and entrepreneurial capability.Agriculture is expected to dominate theeconomy for the foreseeable future, providing,along with plantation forestry, the bestopportunities for broad-based growth andemployment even though terms of trade arelikely to continue moving against the mainexport commodities of copra, and cocoa,coffee, and despite Vanuatu's susceptibility tonatural disasters.Source: Vanuatu National Resource Inventory System(VANRIS)
Subsistence crops in the form of coconuts,root crops, a wide variety of fruits, nuts,vegetables, and building and weavingmaterials are grown throughout Vanuatu.While the Department of Statistics estimatesthe GDP value of this subsistence to be morethan twice that of copra, it could well beworth much more. Similar estimates of thevalue of subsistence for Papua New Guinea,Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga are13.9, 16.7, 5.6, 28.0 and 14.6 per cent,respectively 83 . The ADB recently imputed avalue of subsistence by taking the differencebetween the caloric needs of the populationand what is supplied by imported rice andwheat flower, from which they derived anestimate of about 4 billion vatu at wholesaleprices; that is, about double the officialestimate. 84 Further allowance could have beenmade for the protein and vitamins that are alsosupplied by subsistence agriculture. ThusVanuatu has a strong traditional food securitybase, making it well p laced to deal with theimpact of natural disasters.Even so, Vanuatu is a large importer of rice,importing around 7,000 tonnes annually,valued at some 400 million vatu, whichrepresents a major foreign exchange leakage(4 per cent of imports and over 15 per cent ofvisible exports in 1995). The value ofsubsistence is nevertheless estimated to besome six times this amount. The bulk of riceis consumed in rural areas, where it representsthe most important purchased item. There ishigh regional variation in rice consumptionwhich is closely correlated to cash incomeearning capability, principally from copra and,increasingly, kava 85 . The popularity of riceexplains the keenness of rural dwellers toobtain rice rations after a cyclone, even if theyare not required.Coconuts dominate the economy in terms offoreign exchange earnings, a situation thatwill continue for the foreseeable future,despite declining production and fluctuationscaused by natural disasters and producerprices. While production and copra priceshave fluctuated markedly over the lastdecade, copra has always contributed morethan 30 per cent of export earnings andcoconuts remain a sustainable industry. Therehas been substantial coconut replanting overthe last decade, in contrast to the industries ofFiji and Tonga. Around 80 per cent ofVanuatu's copra is produced by smallholders;copra continues to offer them anassured, albeit low, cash income in returnfrom their effort.During the 1980s, cocoa was promoted as adiversification crop for copra. Despite depressedprices in the 1990s, Vanuatu small-holders havefound cocoa to be profitable and production levelshave been maintained. Coffee, pepper and vanillawere also promoted during the 1980s. The centreof the coffee industry is a nucleus estate on Tanna.A small spice industry is now developing around aprivate sector processing and marketing nucleus.Vanuatu has also established an export beefindustry. Its main markets are Japan, NewCaledonia, Papua New Guinea, and SolomonIslands. The low labour requirements of beefcattle, and resistance to cyclones although notdrought make it an attractive enterprise forplantation owners, particularly small-holders whoown around 50 per cent of the national herd. Asignificant commercial squash industry wasestablished on Efate in 1991 and exports to Japan.Kava has a central place in ni-Vanuatu custom. Itscommercial production for export has grownrapidly in recent years with the proliferation ofinterest from the pharmaceutical and naturalproducts markets. It has become an importantmechanism for distributing income generated inurban areas to production areas in the outerislands. Trade in kava is also an important vehiclefor ni-Vanuatu business participation. Vanuatu'srich subsistence base includes a range ofindigenous nuts, especially nangai (Canarium) andnavele (Barringtonia) which are nowcommercially exploited for the domestic market.There is also considerable and growing overseasdemand for these forest products, but supplyremains a constraint despite a significant resourcebase.Weightman identifies four types of farmingsystems prevailing in Vanuatu today, namely: Continuous irrigated cultivation of taro(Colocasia esculenta), combined with a dryland, annual multi-crop food garden; Small-holder cash crop production, usuallybased on coconuts and often under-croppedwith cocoa and under-grazed with cattle.Small-holder households also maintainseparate multicropping food gardens; Plantation production of tree crops, dependenton wage labour. 86Subsistence multi-cropping food gardens arebased on the annual clearing of forest or bushfallow for several areas of multi-crop family foodgardens.86 Weightman, 1989:29.83 ANU, 199684 ADB. 199785 Fay, 1990
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DISASTERS ANDISBN: 982-364-006-8AGR
Page 5 and 6:
List of MapsMap1 The Region........
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSNumerous people con
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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 26 and 27: that Samoans maintained subsistence
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: production of 35 to 50 percent 78 a
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
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Table 39: An indicative budget for
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impacts are often correlated with,
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Hazard information needs to incorpo
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cost- effective to invest several m
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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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