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Fiji Islands
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NAVUA, FIJI ISLANDS
Five generations of Hari Narayan’s family span the Fiji Islands’ sugar history—from its harsh beginnings to its current painful restructuring. A well-built man of 63, Mr. Narayan relates how his grandfather came from India as an indentured laborer in the late 19th century to work on a sugar plantation. Granddad acquired a lot in Votualevu, Nadi District, on which his descendents, including Mr. Narayan, grew sugarcane until the lease expired 4 years ago.
TOUGH LIVES “It’s very hard for us to manage,” says Roshni Chand (middle), whose husband Ramesh earns F$7 ($3.50) a day as a seasonal laborer
Under a government scheme, Mr. Narayan resettled his family in Navua, 30 kilometers (km) west of Suva, where he grows taro (a starchy root crop), Hawaiian papaya, and eggplant, which bring more income with less labor than sugar.
His sons used to cut cane, but one is now a fruit and vegetable farmer while two others are drivers. Pointing to his bright-eyed grandson, he says, “Shanil goes to a nearby primary school, and I hope he will receive a proper education.”
Facing a drastic drop in exports, the Fiji Islands’ once booming sugar industry faces an inexorable decline . In addition, Fijian mataqali (clans), owners of almost all the land, have not renewed expiring leases on thousands of sugarcane farms—cultivated mostly by Fijians of Indian descent and also indigenous Fijians. As a result, once-productive land lies idle, although the Government is now taking steps to reverse this trend.
The next 5 years will see nearly 5,000 farms disappear, forcing some 14,500 families to look for other sources of income. Many live in the main sugar areas of Ba, Lautoka, Rakiraki, and Sigatoka on the main island of Viti Levu, and in Labasa and Seaqaqa on the other major island of Vanua Levu.
To help thousands of affected farmers and cane cutters, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is preparing an Alternative Livelihoods Development Project, partly financed by a proposed ADB loan of $25 million. ADB’s Board of Directors is expected to consider the project for approval before the end of 2003.
“ADB is looking at various ways of helping displaced sugar workers and villagers in the sugar belt,” says Kunhamboo Kannan, ADB Principal Country Programs Specialist, Pacific Operations Division, who is working on the project. “We can help some move and cultivate cash crops other than sugar. We can provide training to learn other trades, and we can also extend small loans to start businesses.”
"We can’t sleep at night"
- Ram and Taramati Sundar, who are soon to lose their lease
Such news offers hope for cane cutters like 32-year-old Ramesh Chand, who has to support a wife and four children on an income of seven Fiji dollars (F$) ($3.50 at the rate of F$2 to $1) a day as a seasonal laborer.
With few skills after dropping out of school at 12 and working in the cane fields to help his family from age 14, Mr. Chand is among the most vulnerable as the sugar industry downsizes in light of falling exports. “It’s very hard for us to manage,” says his wife Roshni as she tends to their 18-month-old daughter in a wooden shack at the edge of a plantation at Buabua village near Lautoka.
Faced with uncertainty, Mr. Chand says he would be interested in becoming a mechanic or a carpenter if he had the training.
Assistance will come too late for Ram Sundar and his wife Taramati, as the lease on the 15-acre lot they have cultivated for 20 years expires this December.
“We can’t sleep at night, worrying about the future,” says Mr. Sundar, 53, sitting on his veranda. “We want to stay, but the landowner is asking us to leave. I have no idea what we’re going to do.”
"I was the eldest son, and I quit school at 10 to work in the fields, helping my father....We worked 10 hours a day and were paid 9 pennies per ton of cane"
- Hari Narayan, former sugar farmer
The Fiji Islands’ sugar woes are the result of its past success—and people like Mr. Sundar are paying the price. For over a century, sugar has occupied such a dominant role in the Fiji Islands’ economy—sugarcane production accounts for 30% of gross domestic product and 60% of cash farm income—that other sectors have remained undeveloped.
“Providing vocational training for sugar workers to learn other trades won’t be easy as most educational facilities are in Suva, far from the cane-growing areas,” notes Mr. Kannan.
Under the proposed ADB project, schools like Labasa Sangam College on Vanua Levu plan to extend courses to several hundred sugar workers. These will include mechanical and automotive engineering, automotive electrics, carpentry and joinery, catering, home craft and sewing, garment design, and cash crop management.
A proposal to make small loans available for displaced farmers also presents a challenge, as the Fiji Islands’ microfinance sector is limited.
“The country will need to expand its network of savings and credit unions as well as train people to run them,” says Mr. Kannan.
Another difficulty is the dearth of nonagricultural activity in rural areas. Apart from the occasional store and small business servicing farms, enterprises are overwhelmingly located in urban areas. It may be easier to help farmers diversify into tropical fruit, root crops, and vegetables.
In Navua, where Mr. Narayan’s family was the first of nearly 30 families to move from places like Nadi and Labasa, the success of the resettlement scheme owes much to its location. The 5-acre lots are close to a market in the nearby town and, just as importantly, the main road between Suva and Nadi.
I can take five bundles of taro out of the ground and sell them by the roadside for F$25,” says Jagdish Kumar Singh, a 46-year-old wiry man who moved here in 2001 after the lease on his family farm in Labasa expired in 1999.
"We have no regrets about moving."
- Jagdish Singh, former sugar farmer
“We have no regrets about moving,” he says. “I grow taro, cassava, cucumber, okra, and watermelon. It’s taking time to get used to this type of farming, but we are already earning well in our second year here.”
Mr. Narayan, too, has no regrets about leaving cane cutting, where he worked backbreaking 10-hour days during the crushing season. “I was the eldest son and I quit school at 10 to work in the fields, helping my father. In those days, we worked 10 hours a day and were paid 9 pennies per ton of cane. I didn’t earn enough to buy a pair of shoes, and often had pain in my shoulders and legs.”
Even so, he had an easier life than his grandfather who was among the 60,500 laborers brought to the Fiji Islands between 1879 and 1916 to live in primitive “lines” and endure unremitting toil and harsh discipline.
“These days, I work only a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon, and not every day,” he says, standing with a pitchfork outside his home.
Mr. Narayan’s experience shows that the transition from sugar need not be painful. Indeed, in the wider context of the Fiji Islands’ development, his sons and grandchildren are already reaping the benefits of better education while moving away from the soil.
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