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'25
In interisland transport similar trends have ceurred. Interislend vessels ere larger md
cell lees often. Tlp amount of cargo to be delivered or uplifted is often too srnall to cover
en route cogts. Higher atandards of safety regulations, desirabb in themaelvea, have led to
the withdrawal of older, srnaller vessels whoae capital cogts hsd been deprecieted. Tle carrea
of the interisland ehipping problems are in fact varied, and often pecific to perticubr
countries. But the upshot is that the smaller and rmre distant islands often have a poorer
service now than 20 or even 80 yesrs ego. Internal passenger air servicer have often
improved - but, by capturing much of t}e inter-island pa$enger traffic, they have made the
viability of sttipping links more problematic. Meenwhile on the larger islsrds road
construction has given increasing proportions of the rural population eesy rcess to towns
and ports for marketing and heve lowered the costs of conEuner gooda, jr.st wtren the
equivalenl coets m outer islands are increesing. Retail pricee of consurEr goods are f5 to 4{l
per cent Ngher in the Lau lclandg than in Suva. The Lauan copra grower hes to produce a
lhird nnre than would a counterpart close to Suva in order to mhieve the sarne real incqne.
Not mly ere the outer islands too srnall to produce srfficient agricultural produce (for export
or urban consunption) to warrant frequent stripping services. Tlcy are too smell to benefit
from bulk wholesele purchasing. And the need to carry large stocks to csrpenrate for
infrequent deliveriea is costly to retailers. lnfrequent servicee also limit the range of
products which can be grown for sale. Copra, being storabb (though st I cct of weight md
incorne loss), remains trre of the few qtiona, but is notorious fon ite price fluctuations.
The need, for political reasons, to maintein some degree of -rvice &spite the lack of
direct economic justification often encourages direct governnEnt participation through use of
a governrnnt fleel. Yet this is often helf-hearted. I would mgue thet it is essential if the
small remote islends are to be sustained as a viabb part of the state, to re-examine the bsig
on which the costs and benefits of sfripping services are evaluated. Foc exarple a study in
Papua New Guinea showed that in the setting of charges for uaero, "the recovery rate for
governrnent road and air lransport costs was considerably bss than 20 per cent wtrile tlre
rate imposed m maritime transport was almost 70 per cent" (Prpctor, 1980: l7)). The hidden
subsidies to road users are r.sually much higher than to strip users. In Fiji, current rural road
cmstruction costs are between fF50r(trO and fF80r000 per kilometre, and mnual nraintenanc-e
costs about fFl'200 per kilometre. An absolutely minimum route stripping rntwork would
cover about 2rfi)0 kms. This length of road would cost the governnent about f2r4 million per
annum to maintainr quite apart from the cost of servicing the capital. In cmrparison the
current budget allocates some f)20rffi0 to stripping subsi-dies. I recognize of courae that
shipping services mly generale traffic at the ports .of call, not along their ufiole bngth s
roads may (but not necessarily) do. Thus the direct comparison between S0.l gtO i2r4 million
is not valid. Neither are the populations served of equal size. But the anti-stripping bias b
clear. Until such time as rnme rrnre equitable means are found for eveluating governnnnt
contributions to shipping vis-a-vis road transport, the small and the renpte ielands wiil
remain as backwaters as far as Lheir agricultural potential is concerned. Perhape the concept
of Inotional' or rstradow' roads has something to offer. Perhaps an index based m road
maintenance cosLs per kilometre might give a measure of reesonable shipping rrbsidy bvele.
Perhaps sttips should be made available to users free of direct capital charges, s roads tend
to be. Certainly some new approach is needed.
Aqricultural directions for the next few decades
Let me sum up by indicating what I believe will be the general trends in agricuhure
over the next 20 years or so, and by noting the particular needs of the atolls for a new
consideration of their agricultural systems. Small size and distance from markets will
continue to make it difficult, if not impossibb, for Pacific Island stetes to influence world
prices for their export produets. Special trade arrangements with Australia or New Zealand,
or lhe EEC through the Lane Agreement will continue to be vital. For many of the outer
islands in the larger countries, coconut based products will continue to be the rtly
exportable agricultural produce. Inproved internal air transport is unlikely to c*range this
situetion significantly. Attention and initiatives for new crops and expansion of existing types
of commercial agriculture will focus increasingly on the larger islands, sr those with an
export port' and m those areas with better soils. The village mixed subsistence-cash crop
system will continue in a state of malaise €rs pressures on the whole society from the
commercial world increase. Governments and farmersr qroups will put increasing emphasis an
providing commercially-oriented menagement in production, provision of inputs and rnarketing.
The type of organization which lhe Asian Development Bank's Sor.lth Pacific Agnicultural
Survey called the "plantation rmde of managementtt (not, I streas, 'rproductionrr, but