Policy responses to threats to rural household incomes: the case of Fiji

The incomes of people in Fiji who rely directly on agricultural production are under threat due to a number of institutional changes or shocks that are occurring now, or are expected in the near future. In this paper we examine recent evidence on the current nature and level of rural and urban incomes in Fiji and consider the sensitivity of the welfare of different groups of rural people to these shocks. The data are drawn from a census of individual rural households in the Seaqaqa Tikina (District) of Macuata Province in the Northern Region of Fiji. The potential for alternative responses open to the Government and individual producers to moderate the adverse impact of these shocks is considered