Cash Cropping and the Fijian Village

Abstract

The change from a subsistence to a commercial rural economy frequently brings new attitudes to the allocation of labour and time, to socio-economic organiza? tion, to value systems and to the appraisal of the land. This paper is an examination of some of the changes which such a widening of economic relations has brought to the settlement and agricultural geography of Fijian villages. Other influences, such as Christianity, peace, the presence of a large Indian population and medical innovations have also had an impact on the village, but it may be suggested that the grafting of cash cropping on the subsistence economy has caused some of the most important changes and, in recent years, has become the main factor resulting in accelerated cultural and geographical change. Rural settlement patterns in Fiji are now at a critical point. Throughout 150 years of European presence the nucleated village has been the principal settlement unit. This unit has been intimately bound up with the nature of Fijian society. But, in the face of new modes of life, new forms of economy and new levels of technology, there are signs that the stability of the village as a settlement form is threatened and its relative importance vis-d-vis other forms of rural settlement is declining. If this tendency gathers further momentum it will bring a revolution in the rural landscape. The setting.?The Fiji group includes about 250 islands, of which approximately ninety are inhabited. Viti Levu, which accounts for 60 per cent of the Colony's land, supports 70 per cent of the population. On the larger islands there is a marked climatie contrast between the north-west, with a dry season of up to five months, and the south-east, where the dry season in most years is not sufficiently severe to affect plant growth. The contrast is reflected in the difference between the scrub and grass of the north-west and the forest cover of the south-east. In the early nineteenth century the Fijian population was widely distributed throughout the group and virtually all the habitable islands were occupied. Some early observers (e.g. Wilkes, 1844, p. 342) thought the interiors ofthe main islands were probably sparsely populated but later exploration, and evidence of terracing revealed by aerial photographs, show that the interior was well populated. Although almost all villages were largely dependent upon production from their own land, there was some exchange and a little specialization. For instance, pottery was made in some villages, canoes were a speciality of Kambara Island, salt was a trade item between coast and interior, and mats and baskets came from Nairai Island (Wilkes, 1844, PJ94; Williams, 1858, pp. 93-4). But it is doubtful if any village depended on an exchange economy, or that trade greatly influenced siting or form. The subsistence village.?Apart from defence requirements, the factors influencing the location of the subsistence village were generally internal. Access to a variety of soils, to water and to fishing grounds was important; and it appears that the desirability of having a range of land resources within the territory of the village or social group sometimes led to an arrangement of land holdings across the grain of the countryside. ?^ Dr. R. Gerard Ward is a Lecturer in Geography at University College London. When on the staff ofthe University of Auckland he undertook field-work in the Pacific, especially in Western Samoa during a survey which was supported in 1956/57 by the Carnegie Social Sciences Council, and in Fiji during visits between 1958 and 1961.