of feeding

Problems of feeding Paeifie townsfolk

The Adaption of Traditional Agriculture: Socio-economic Problems of Urbanisation. Ed. f E. K. Fisk. Published by A us f tralian National University Development Studies Centre. : $9. [ This book contains contri butions from a number of [ world authorities to a con ference held in Honiara in late 1977 on the adaption of tra ditional agricultural pro ■ duction to the needs of urban markets.

The subject is topical and 1 important. Most South Pacific countries import substantial quantities of food to feed their I urban populations and food amounts to 20-25% of their [ total imports. This is both annoying to governments try ing to promote self-reliance

and conserve foreign exchange

and. on face value, strange for

agriculturally-based countries

with relatively low population pressures. The reason is that the staple crops of the South Pacific are root crops, which are neither easily storeable nor transportable, and that they are

I almost invariably produced by

subsistence methods. Can sub sistence production of root crops be modified to provide a sufficient surplus to feed rap idly expanding urban popu lations, and if so how? [ Unfortunately, the papers do not really get to grips with these basic questions. This is not the fault of the editor and con ference organiser. In his introductory paper, which was sent to participants when they were invited to attend the con ference, he clearly poses these questions and lists the basic problems involved in the pro cess of adaption (pp 20-21).

The conference participants did not take due note of these questions and, in general, appear to have written on re lated themes of their own interest. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon at conferences of this type.

A notable exception is the contribution by Professor Bill Clarke of Monash University, and formerly of the University of Papua New Guinea. He examines the ‘environmentally sustainable modifications’ which might be made to tra ditional agricultural systems, having first made the point that, in terms of returns to inputs of energy, traditional agricultural systems are far more efficient than indus trialised agriculture. He con cludes that it would be absurd to try to ‘power our way out’ of

food shortages by adopting

high energy technology. He

suggests the development of communities where the distinc tion between rural and urban, and between consumer and producer, is broken down and where almost everyone devotes some time to food production.

Some food for thought for

urban planners!

PNG’s National Food Policy makes some sensible points with respect to securing urban food needs from subsistence agriculture. It sees distinct

disadvantages in villagers

engaging in production of sub sistence crops for sale. In par ticular, the land will be required to support many more people, and will deteriorate, and village nutrition levels may suffer. It therefore rec ommends the encouragement

of large-scale production of

traditional staples near urban areas, and if necessary, that foreigners be allowed to be come involved. This seems to me to be, along with large-scale production of rice, a possible alternative to reliance on imported rice but this is not to underestimate the transport, marketing, mechanical and or ganisational enormities in volved in producing and delivering such production to a large number of urban con sumers. Also, large-scale pro duction will itself be a heavy user of imports and existing

small-scale producers are likely

to suffer from the compe tition. ■/ Several contributors deal with urban food supplies in Africa and Central and South America where root crop staples do provide substantial proportions of the food re

quirements of some large urban centres. In Africa this derives from a yam trade of several centuries’ standing, and also processed cassava, and does involve modification of traditional agriculture. In Cen tral and South America, root crops for urban supplies are de rived from commercial farms, both large and small-scale.

Some of this experience will be relevant to the South Pacific, but terrain and climate of the region often make rapid trans port difficult.

Despite the failure of the conference papers to tackle the major questions, the conclud

ing chapter notes a general

agreement among the par

ticipants ‘that tropical root

crops and indigenous systems of cultivation and production had a high, and in some areas

neglected, potential for raising

food production in many areas of the humid tropics, par ticularly in the Pacific region’.

The book is an impressive collection of papers on the supply of urban food needs from the production of root crop staples. It deserves to be

read widely by planners and

students of the area and its for mat and the level at which it is pitched lends itself to these audiences. Geoffrey Harris