Análisis espectróscopico de la fracción secundaria

As described in section 5.8, early economic development on Mangaia was dominated by agricultural export. However, with New Zealand’s decision to deregulate in 1984, previously protected markets for pineapple, oranges and vegetables collapsed (Fleming, 1996; Johnston & Frengley, 1991). Other ventures failed to establish, including coffee, vanilla, nonu juice and forestry. Even ostrich farming and taro export have fallen away (Mangaia Island Administration, 2009b). Diseconomies of scale, prohibitive transportation costs to markets, and low wage competition in South East Asia and South America have worked against agricultural export on Mangaia (Fleming, 1996)107_.

Despite these barriers, the low cost of planting and the availability of zero capital cost, family owned land, makes agriculture seem attractive to some. Many Mangaians though, remain suspicious of government and aid agency commitment to revive agriculture.

Ideas for agricultural projects from outsiders come and go here; there is usually a lot of talk that leads to nothing. Foreigners have no commitment to Mangaia.

Participant 30: Community member

The 2010 government proposed a $3.5 million Te One Kura agriculture revival project for the southern islands, including Mangaia, is a case in point. The intention was to supply Rarotonga with fresh fruit and vegetables. The planned benefits were to be strengthened export economies on pa enua and an improved balance of payments for the Cook Islands as a result of encouraging import substitution (Greig, 2010). The project never even started108_.

107 _{Fleming (1996) states that both production and marketing factors need addressing if agricultural export is}

to be successful in the Pacific Islands Production factors include technical and physical factors, quality control, costs of production, modes of production, land tenure and related social factors. Marketing factors include market access and quarantine regulations, product attributes, product-cycle management, product range and new product development, economics of processing, product quality, marketing margins, price instability, and promotion (Fleming, 1996, p. xii).

108 _{Elections in late 2010 resulted in a change of government. In the 2011 budget, there was no money set}

aside for the proposed Te One Kura agriculture project. In response to this the On 27 July 2011 the Honourable Mangaian Member of Parliament Winton Pickering was reported in the Cook Islands Herald on the 27th _{July 2011 as saying “people in Mangaia had given up” (Cook Islands Herald, 2011) on promises of}

Furthermore, internal transport has always been unreliable and costly in the Cook Islands (Syed & Mataio, 1993). The Mangaians I spoke with are very aware of these continuing barriers to agricultural export. Miria Ruatoe, a market gardener, stated:

How could I export cabbages even though people say they are the best cabbages in the Cook Islands. The plane freight is $3 a kilo and the boat is $425 a tonne. By the time I pay the freight there would not be any profit left.

Miria Ruatoe

Agriculture must be small scale as there are simply not enough workers on Mangaia. Perhaps families could form a cooperative style arrangement to boost supply and help overcome transport and market access barriers. This approach fits with our culture of helping each other. We also need to focus on non perishable crops as reliable transport for export cannot be relied on.

Teuanuku Koroa (Agriculture officer)

Commercial fishing is another option helped by the recent redevelopment of the harbour as part of a Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project (Komai, 2013), and Japanese funded upgrade of the Mangaia Fishing Association building (Embassy of Japan, 2013). Ngametua Tangatakino from the Mangaia Fishing Association explains:

Currently only nine people go trawling for tuna and with demand so great, we cannot even supply the domestic market. Last year we started tuna trawling workshops and fifteen youth were interested.

Ngametua Tangatakino (Fisheries officer)

However, any agricultural projects would need to align topeople’s desire to grow their own food by participating in oraanga Mangaia:

People here value a balanced lifestyle. They like to plant, fish, and help their friends and family. They know they can depend on akonoanga enua to feed their families. Someone exporting taro would have to produce surplus on top of that which feeds their family and contributes to village, puna and church functions.

Angaanga ou kia tano i te akonoanga enua

Any commercial business would need to complement the Mangaian lifestyle. Participant 75: Community member

Agricultural initiatives must also align to culture norms. In the 1950s, Mangaians refused to accept a citrus replanting scheme because of demands to title land which was at odds with Mangaians land tenure customs (Allen, 1969).

Agriculture: The future

In response to failed externally conceived agricultural projects, that do not align to

Mangaian culture, Mangaians are demanding their own agricultural projects (Te au Puna o Mangaia, 2014). Vanilla is one example of a locally conceived, grassroots, participatory agricultural development project on Mangaia. This example will now be presented. The case of vanilla: A Mangaian community economic development initiative During my first research period, in August 2011, Ongoua Toko, a Mangaian Church Minster, had invited George Maruae109_{, a Tahitian vanilla grower, and friend, to explore the}

potential for a vanilla industry on Mangaia. At a packed Mangaian community meeting Maruae guaranteed he would buy all vanilla produced at a high fixed price110_{. Vanilla is}

almost the perfect agricultural export crop for Mangaia. Ongoua outlined the following advantages:

x Vanilla grows well on Mangaia with great soil and a climate perfect for stimulating blossom;

x Growing vanilla complements oraanga Mangaia as it requires little labour, apart from at pollinating time;

x The work is light so the whole family can help;

x Vanilla plants can be grown on people’s own land and around their houses not threatening Mangaian land tenure customs;

x Dried vanilla beans are non-perishable; an advantage on an isolated island;

x Tanutanu (planting) skills allow Mangaians to construct vanilla plantations using materials from the bush. Set up costs are kept at a minimum, making it unnecessary to secure financial capital. The vines grow on sticks cut from the bush. Raised beds made from bamboo cut from the bush are filled with compost, fertilising the vanilla. The vanilla plants are propagated under the leaves of existing banana plantations that substitute for expensive shade cloth;

109 _{Maruae’s family business specialises in naturally dried vanilla (Vanilla MaTahiti, 2011). In this niche,}

market demand currently far exceeds supply.

110 _{Independently Max Taerea, another vanilla grower from Tahiti, outlined how demand from Australia,}

United States of America and New Zealand meant “Tahitian growers cannot keep up with the demand from these markets and that is why members of his organisation are travelling to other countries to promote this product” (Cook Islands News, 2010).

x Value can be added by drying the beans;

x World demand for dried vanilla beans currently exceeds supply and is likely to remain so. Minister Ongoua Toko

Chairperson of the Mangaia Vanilla Growers Association

The risks to vanilla export are mainly external. A drop in global demand or oversupply would reduce world vanilla prices. The reliance on a single buyer creates demand risk. Problems with the regulatory and quarantine framework surrounding vanilla export need to be addressed with the Cook Islands Government (Island Business, 2011; Radio New Zealand International, 2011).

On Mangaia, the MIA has worked in partnership with the vanilla growers from the beginning.

A partnership has developed between the Vanilla Growers Association, who lead the project, the Aronga Mana, the Island Council and MIA who support the project for the good of everyone on Mangaia. We assist the growers to cut and then transport the vanilla cuttings from the bush to people’s homes111_.

Teuanuku Koroa (Agriculture officer)

Vanilla provides an example of the competitive advantage that Mangaians possess in being able to tap into the knowledge, skills and technology from both oraanga Mangaia and the western world. These endogenous development initiatives, complementing oraanga Mangaia and tapping into underlying motivation may prove to be the answer to development on Mangaia.