Towards prosperity? Rural transformation in post-colonial Vanuatu

Abstract

This thesis examines the question of progress towards “prosperity” with particular reference to cash-generating activities of households in Nerenigman on Mota Lava in the Banks/Torres Local Government Region and the Longana area in East Ambae of the Ambae/Maewo Local Government Region. The assessment and comparison of post-colonial rural change in these areas is based on detailed anthropological research, and geographic and demographic theses published in the early 1980s by Rodman (1981) and Campbell (1985). These studies, together with results obtained from the 1979 population census, provide a baseline from which an examination of aspects of change in rural communities during the 1980s is conducted. The two areas were chosen as case studies to examine whether “balanced” rural development and prosperity had been achieved by the early 1990s. Rural villagers’ participation in cash-earning activities has meant that their subsistence mode of production has been modified and a path towards market-oriented farming established. Rural villagers in the study areas want development as measured in both tangible and intangible terms. In the study areas, this aspiration was evident through their participation in the capitalist economy. The presence of physical infrastructure such as schools, health centres, water supply systems and other capital assets villagers used for promoting development purposes, indicated their changing aspirations for Western-type consumer goods and services. In addition to the provision of the above services, the presence of commercial institutions such as co-operative stores, trade stores, commercial centres and banks were examples of facilities which were regarded as important for facilitating development. The villager’s access to these services has paved the way for their deepening integration into the modern cash economy. The evidence from this study suggests that opportunities for households to diversify and extend their sources of cash incomes on Mota Lava have been very limited since the independence of Vanuatu in 1980. There was little evidence that material living standards had improved much on the island. By comparison, the Longana area has shown evidence of increased levels of prosperity. There has been a significant change in the structure of the agricultural economy, from heavy dependence on copra in the 1980s to kava and livestock production which had become important sources of income by the early 1990s. While cultural values remain important attributes of ni-Vanuatu assessments of prosperity, most villagers expressed a real desire to participate in the capitalist system and to share some of the material benefits of that participation in the early 1990s. This study of cash-generating activities of households in the study areas serves to underline the nature and direction of change, which increasingly involves the integration of rural villagers into a capitalist economy.