Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in local knowledge, and with the capacity to find and implement localized solutions
to mitigate the worst that global hange may bring.
he disruptive impacts of global hange on local food supply networks have re-
ceived limited atention in the largely coastal urban areas in Paciic SIDS that are
prone to salination of ield crops, fruit orhards and home gardens by frequent and
intense natural disasters. hese networks upon whih villagers are becoming in-
creasingly dependent for food and income include subsistence and market food (and
forestry) production from urban environs and urbanizing areas (including villages
near expanding towns). Like other developing countries experiencing rapid urbaniz-
ation, national and local governments in PICs have limited resources to cope with
burgeoning urban populations and their subsequent demands for service provision,
housing and employment (Connell and Lea, 2002). There is also limited understand-
ing, at governmental levels, of the importance of the urban ecosystem to sustainable
urban-based livelihoods in rapidly urbanizing PICs.
In comparison to sub-Saharan Africa, the literature on urban agriculture as a sur-
vival and coping strategy in the Paciic islands has not received as muh atention as
it deserves. Reasons for this could include that, among many PICs, human develop-
ment indicators (available from the United Nations Development Programme, Hu-
man Development Report) - life expectancy at birth, literacy, maternal health - are
near levels that compare favourably to developed countries. Nonetheless, over the
years a number of important studies have been carried out in the region looking at
UA and related topics concerning urban subsistence food gardening and urban agro-
forestry (Thaman
et al.
, 2006; Thornton, 2009b), small-scale farmers, and local food
production (Ward, 1959; Crocombe 1987). In contrast to the neoliberal development
approah - that emphasizes monoculture production systems for export agriculture
- UA, as part of a local food production system, is suggested as a more effective
strategy for small-scale farmers. It is perhaps beter suited to the environmental con-
ditions common to Pacific islands (fragile, yet arable soils) and can offer local market
stability to producers who have turned away from inequalities inherent in commer-
cial export agriculture due to diiculties in ahieving comparative advantage, and
who have been victimized by fluctuations in the global market and costly inputs.
Industrialization, rural-urban lows, resource exhanges and transition of rural
agricultural land into peri-urban zones can vary among South Pacific island states. In
the following sections, issues of urbanization, poverty and local food production are
discussed in Samoa and Fiji. These Pacific island countries share some similarities, in
