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land for cultivation. Plantations were concerned solely with production for export, required a
commercial structure, and (after initially experimenting with e wide range of crops) were
usually rnonocultural. Contraet, indentured or wage labour was employed - all mobilized on a
commercial basis and paid in cash or rations. The scale of plantations increased and their
operations were of ten integrated with those in metropolitan countries where inputs were
obtained, with shipping services, with processing, and wiLh marketing organiza[ions in the
overseas countries. The scale and integration of the enterprise allowed zuch plantations to
withstand many of the fluctuaLions in prices and returns which plague primary producers
dependent sr world markets.
In recent years the independence of island states has made the status of foreign-owned
plantations problematical. Some countries have policies of taking over foreign-owned holdings
and reallocaLing the land to citizens or traditional land owners. But the export production of
the plan[ations, and the revenue it provides, has proved important to governmen[s. State or
provincial-owned plantations, community holdings managed by a corporation, or variants which
spply an overlay of plantation-type management to small holder producers, are seen aa
offering alterngtives to foreign owned eslates. The important point is that all are at[empts
to retain some at least of the economic advantages of larger scale in marketing and related
operations. This may indicate something of the marketing and management contexts within
which Pacific Island agriculture may develop in futurti.
Mixed subsistence-commercial villaqe aoriculture svstems
Let me return [o the crucial question of the f uture of the mixed
zubsistence-commercial village agriculture systems. It is imporlant to stress that the changes
in lhese syslems have not proceeded at the same pace in all areas. However, I would argue
that the general direcLion has been, essenLially, the same and the differences we now see
often reflect the slage reached, rather than a different proeess.
I believe thet the changes in village agricultural systems have three immediate causes:
the conditions which the commercial market imposes on production systems; lhe fact that
purchased food (or aid from overseas) has replaced traditional methods of guarding aqainst
food ehortage resulting from environmental hazards; and the trend away from reciprocal
labour rmbilization towards wage labour. The market, as it becomes more developed, whether
for fresh food zupply or food processing, demands regularity of supply, and adherence to some
set of product specifications. The latter usually require a degree of specialization and larger
scale producLion of the panticular line on the part of the gnower. Delivery deadlines are
inimical to a system of labour mobilization based on reciprocity in which obligations are
incurred, and must be mel, outside the agricultural production system. Inevilably social and
markeL obligations clash - if the social obliga[ions are given precedence the farmerrs market
errangements may well collapse; if the market demands Lake precedence and the farmerrs
eocial obligatione are not met, his genenal welfare - his social seeurity - may suffer. The
villager trying to maintain this balancing act is in a no-win position and neither set of
obligations can be sustained satisfact.orily.
Similar conflicts arise in other farming operations and the marked increase in use of
wage labour within villages in Fiji, and other rnore commercially oriented areas, is in pant a
reflection of these conflicts. Of course the withdrawal of agricultural work from the
reciprocity system affects other elements of the social structure - for example it rnay no
longer be satisfactory to leave house construction, or the care of the aged, to the traditional
system. lrrcreasingly specialization of labour is becoming the norm in rural areas.
The commereial market (wholesalers, retailers and consumers) demands a standardized
line of bananas, taro or other crop. Uniform size, stage of ripeness, colour and shape are
preferred. The grower is therefore encouraged to change from mulbicrop gardens to nnnocrop
fields - from multivariety plots lo fields of the one, commercial variety. The pressure on his
and his family's time often rneans the disappearance of minor crops, the garnishes in the diet
and important nutritional items. Yams or taro give way to Lhe less labour demanding csssava.
Tfc crops grown for times of risk are also dropped. W ith larger monocrop gardens the
reletive attraction of firs[ class soils on near-flat land increases and the steep land, suitable
for swidden but not for permanent arable use, declines in relative value. Areas without
first-class land are disadvantaged.