FOOD FOR THOUGHT? LINKING URBAN AGRICULTURE AND LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION FOR FOOD SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC - Food Systems Failure - page 250

Although poverty reduction policies do not currently exist in Samoa, the gov-
ernment has recognized increasing economic hardships for many households. In the
urban areas, food security problems have been identified as a growing issue. Over
one-half of all reported cases of hildhood malnutrition are from within greater Apia
(Muagututi'a, 2006, p62). The most vulnerable groups in Samoa include the urban
poor with limited land access, the rural poor who lak cash income, and the young.
One of the key hallenges for the Samoan economy is its dependence on remittance
income, derived from the significant numbers of its population living overseas. Es-
timates place suh remitance income in the order of 20 per cent of GDP. By compar-
ison, agriculture represents 6.7 per cent of GDP. While agriculture is only a minor
contributor, in a rural subsistence economy, its role as a survival strategy - as op-
posed to a creator of wealth - is critical.
In contrast to many other Pacific island states, the faa Samoa (Samoan way of
life) has endured, despite external pressures to modernize social, political and eco-
nomic life (Thornton, Kerslake and Binns, 2010). At one level, this has ensured the
continuance of communal-based land ownership, but, at another level, this is at
odds with global expectations of land reform and privatization. Recently, since the
mid-1990s, various regional trade agreements in the Pacific, IMF structural adjust-
ment policies, commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and (an-
ticipated) entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) are forcing hange. Rath-
er than increasing liberalization, as one might anticipate with WTO membership ne-
gotiations, emphasis is placed on the development of nihe market food production
(by the Central Bank of Samoa) and on local food production for urban markets.
Potential for developing local food systems
Recognizing the risks and vulnerability of deepening trade liberalization, 2 the
Government of Samoa is promoting small-scale farming for domestic food security,
as well as nihe agriculture with export potential. However, the success of any ag-
ricultural renaissance might hinge on the willingness of Samoans to continue en-
gaging in farming, and to clear land for new commercial plantations. In an earlier
study of Samoa's banana industry, Ward (1959, p126) observed that the existence of
uncultivated land was atributed to the 'low social status accorded to skill and dili-
gence in agriculture'. This view is mostly related to the traditional division of labour
in the village, where a matai (head of family, or hief) will assign taulele'a (untitled
men) to work in the plantations (a commercial holding or garden). The historical