Directions

Agricultural Education and its Related Problems
in the South Pacific
Lafita'i Fuatai
Background and Setting
Agriculture is the basic industry of all countries in the South Pacific, except for
Nauru. Earnings from agricultural production are one of the main cash
sources in most rural communities. In most countries the largest proportion of
the GNP is generated by agriculture, as is most foreign exchange. In addition,
the largest numbers of people in these countries are employed in agriculture.
South Pacific countries, scattered over 30 million square kilometres of ocean
and stretching from Tahiti in the east to Solomon Islands in the west, include
members of the three major ethnic groups of the central Pacific-Melanesian,
Micronesian, and Polynesian. More than 200 languages are spoken, including
English and French. Population sizes range from 1,600 in Tokelau to 700,000
in Fiji. (Note: Papua New Guinea is not referred to in this article, which
focuses mainly on the 12 member countries of the University of the South
Pacific.) The total population is just under one and a half million people.
Rapid increases in population growth rates have occurred in the last decade,
with most countries exceeding three per cent. However, high emigration
actually resulted in negative growth rates in Tonga and Niue, while the net
growth of each of the other countries amounted to less than 1 percent. Even
with these low net growth rates, it is likely that the need to employ those born
in the 1980's beyond the year 2000 will not be reduced. Thus the major
problem facing most countries is providing jobs for young people.
In terms of physical characteristics, South Pacific countries have some common
features, namely: relatively very small land masses, fragmented land areas,
scattered island communities, and long distances from international markets.
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The topography of island groups in the region varies considerably. Atoll
countries such as the northern Cooks, Tuvalu and Kiribati are mainly deposits
of rubble and sand with some rock and hard pan. The potential for agriculture
is poor, with heavy reliance on copra and fish for export, and reliance on root
crops and coconut products for subsistence. On the other hand, countries such
as Fiji, Vanuatu and Western Samoa are of volcanic origin with mountain
peaks rising as high as 1,000 metres. In these volcanic islands, there is
generally a higher soil fertility and a greater diversity of crops is supported as
a result.
Agricultural development has had adverse effects on the environment. During
the last decade, deforestation surged due to the clearing of new land for
agricultural use, and also the export of timber products, especially from the
larger volcanic countries. In Western Samoa, for example, up to 2000 hectares
of land are cleared annually for agricultural purposes. Increased use of tractor
tillage, fertilisers, and chemicals have also contributed to problems of
environmental pollution.
The devastating effects of cyclones in the late 1980s and early 1990s has
further compounded the damage already done to many of the fragile
ecosystems. The inevitable result has been a sharp decline in exports for all
of the countries in the region.
In terms of the development of integrated agricultural systems, the constraints
are quite apparent in all countries. These include:
Reliance on perishable and bulky crops, coupled with the often
unreliable nature of sea transport, high costs, and low frequency of
shipping runs.
Susceptibility to natural disasters, such as droughts and cyclones.
Rural-urban migration and reluctance of youth to pursue farming
careers.
Weak agricultural support services.
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Problems in food processing and storage.
Severity of certain crop diseases, such as taro leaf blight in Western
Samoa.
Low world market prices for exports such as copra and cocoa.
The physical conditions and fragile nature of all these island countries highlight
the importance of education. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, goals of education
reflected the struggle for self determination and a sense of identity. The
1980's and the early 1990's saw internal struggles concerning democracy and
universal suffrage. Education has evolved with the changes that came about,
especially in the last 10 years. The Basic Education and Life Skills (BELS)
Programme is one manifestation of these changes.
The development of agricultural education
The first efforts by a regional agency to initiate agricultural education
development go back to 1968 when the South Pacific Commission assigned
Alan Sutherland to carry out a regional survey of the teaching of agriculture in
schools. According to Sutherland, very few schools were teaching any
agriculture-related subjects. He emphasised the importance of agricultural
education and concluded that it should be offered in more schools. The
philosophy emerging was that it was at the youth stage that an individual
became mature enough to handle farming and related tasks (Wendt, 1974).
A major survey of the South Pacific conducted by the Asian Development Bank
in 1979 strengthened the position for instituting agricultural education. This
survey confirmed that agriculture in the region was declining both absolutely
and relatively. Thus there was a strong need to improve agricultural
productivity in the region, and for progression in management practices as
well.
In August 1981, the South Pacific Ministers/Directors of Education met in
Western Samoa at the first Alafua Conference on Agricultural Education to
decide on a strategy for implementing teacher education and secondary school
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agriculture in the region served by the University of the South Pacific. In the
conference keynote speech Dr. Felix Wendt, the Dean of the USP School of
Agriculture at that time, presented a rationale for instituting agricultural
education in the South Pacific. He stressed the following
Agriculture is basic to South Pacific people.
It makes a substantial contribution to both domestic diets and cash
incomes.
It employs the largest number of people.
It provides the largest sector of the Gross National Product and is the
biggest source of foreign exchange.
There is an increasing population of junior and senior secondary
school students in the region.
There is evidence that the vast majority of the above students return to
their villages and the land.
In terms of education and from the economic development viewpoint,
a good general education with some vocational agriculture would be
highly appropriate for many students.
Thus, expanding secondary school agriculture should result in some spinoffs,
including the productive employment of young people, providing trained
manpower for development, bringing about desirable changes in farming
methods and improving living standards.
As a result of the first Alafua Conference, the Advanced Certificate in
Teaching Agriculture (ACTA) Programme was set up at the USP School of
Agriculture in 1981. The main purpose of this programme was to train
teachers to teach agriculture in secondary schools. By 1991, a total of 116
students had graduated from the ACTA Programme, the majority of whom
were from Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. There were also
graduates from Western Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and Tuvalu. Regrettably,
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the ACTA Programme was terminated in 1991 due to lack of funding.
Fortunately for agricultural education, the opportunity for further development
came in the form of the BELS Programme. This project made provisions to
assist with the development of agricultural education curricula.
Agricultural education under the BELS Programme
The BELS Programme commenced in 1993 with the USP School of
Agriculture implementing the Curriculum Innovations for Life Skills (CILS)
Module.
The countries which had signed the Memoranda of Understanding by
September 1993 were the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Niue,
Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Western Samoa. Fiji signed in
1994.
Prior to the BELS Programme, countries which had strong on-going
programmes in agricultural education were Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga and
Vanuatu. Other agricultural education programmes existed in the Cook
Islands, Niue and Western Samoa (School Cert Horticulture). Under the BELS
Programme, countries which have further developed their agricultural
education curricula are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Niue,
Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Samoa.
The 1995 mid-term evaluation of the BELS Programme found mixed progress
in the CILS Module. Some countries had developed their educational
resources (whether it be people or resource materials) to the extent that they
were quite well off, while the development in other countries, lacking those
resources, had been much slower.
The position of agricultural education within the social context of our countries
is one of the important factors that needs serious consideration by education
policy makers. Our Pacific systems of education are a legacy of colonial times
and in the case of agricultural education, biases against agriculture as a subject
in pre-tertiary education have been pervasive. This bias against agriculture is
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at least partly related to the aspirations which parents have for their children,
the least of which is for them is to be farmers.
Agricultural education within the social context of the
Pacific Islands
The social changes taking place in the region over the past decade have been
fast, complex and overwhelming. In education, the decade of the 80s was a
time when curricula were revamped to make them more appropriate or relevant
to local conditions. In agricultural education, the appealing solution favoured
the design of curricula which could enhance the status of agriculture and
encourage youth to go into farming rather than migrating to urban areas. This
is easier said than done, however, for in a number of countries, only lip
service is paid to this with little or no real effort at all.
The general trend in all countries is that people tend to be drawn away from a
largely subsistence existence in their villages, to look for paid employment in
the towns or cities. This trend became more marked after the devastating
cyclones in the late '80s and nearly '90s, when farmers incurred heavy losses.
In an address to BELS Programme National Managers in May 1994, Esekia
Solofa, the Vice Chancellor of the USP, said that parents saw schooling as a
path to their children's material well-being. As a result, education authorities,
governments and the churches in the Pacific had found rural-urban migration to
be a major problem. They also saw many opportunities outside the village
smallholder agricultural sector. As long as fanning is associated with hard
labour and little return, parents' desire for better things for their children will
persist.
The agricultural education challenge
The challenge for Pacific education policy makers is to propose ways of
making agricultural education more meaningful. The solution may lie with
those to whom the task of developing agricultural education is delegated.
There is an urgent need to train not only more teachers of agriculture, but also
those who can develop agricultural curricula. The following story about a wise
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old blind man is intended to illustrate the way ahead for us.
One day, a young man went to see the old man with the sole purpose of testing
him. The young man said to himself "I will present the old man with a riddle.
I will take a bird with me ask him 'Old man, tell me, the bird in my hand, Is it
dead or is it alive?" If he says it is alive, then I will squeeze it dead and tell
him, you are wrong old man, it is dead. If he says it is dead, then I will let it
fly from hand and I will say, you are wrong old man, it is alive. Indeed that
will be a good test of his wisdom! Both ways, it is going to be a no-win
situation for him!"
So he went to see the old man. And he began his riddle, "Old man, I have a
bird in my hand. Can you tell me, is it dead or alive?"
The old man pondered for a moment, stroked his beard and seemingly stared
out into space before he replied. "Young man," he said, "you have a bird in
your hand. If I say it is alive, then you are going to close your hand around it
and squeeze it until it is dead, then you will say it is dead. If I say it is dead,
then you will release it from your hand and let it fly, and you will say it is
alive. My answer is, young man, the bird is in your hands the bird is in
your hands."
Conclusion
Likewise, it is evident that agricultural education is in the hands of education
policy makers in the Pacific. All it needs is a nod and encouragement to those
involved in developing curricula. Educational progress is not based on
buildings and the paperwork that administrators plough through every day, but
on working with people and empowering them to succeed. This is basically
the key to success in any human enterprise. Agricultural education has made
substantial progress in many countries of the region, but not in others. The
key to success in this enterprise is in the hands of those concerned with
education in each country.
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References
Chakravarty, I (ed.), (1993). Nutrition Profiles of the Developing Countries in the Asia-Pacific
Region. Bangkok, Thailand: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Sutherland, A. (1968). Agricultural Education in the South Pacific. A Report to the
South Pacific Commission, Noumea: SPC Press.
Ward, R.G. & Proctor, A. (eds.), (1980). South Pacific Agriculture, Choices and Constraints:
South Pacific Agricultural Survey, 1979. Canberra: Australian National University
Press.
Wendt, F.S. (1974). A Proposed Agricultural Education Program for Pre-tertiary Education in
Western Samoa. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. Unpublished PhD dissertation.
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