1. Introduction
An overview of grazing livestock systems in the Southwest Pacific

Summary

The major livestock producing countries in the Southwest Pacific (Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) support about 6 million people including 760 000 rural households. Subsistence and commercial livestock are raised by 65% of these rural households. Approximately 15% of rural households in the major producing countries raise cattle, goats and sheep but especially cattle. In the small island states, traditional village pig and poultry production is more important. Livestock are therefore an integral part of Southwest Pacific farming systems.

The chapter briefly profiles the production of ruminant livestock (cattle, goats and sheep) and non-ruminant livestock (pigs, poultry and horses) in the major producing countries, providing key statistics on numbers and the levels of household participation in respective countries. It also relates livestock raising to overall land use in the region, indicating the scope for expansion (e.g. in cattle grazing under coconuts) without compromising other land uses such as inter-cropping.

Livestock provide rural households with many important benefits such as consumption of animal proteins as meat or milk, income flows, social status, weed control and transport. Prices for livestock products are less variable than for commercial crops and their production is less adversely affected than crops by drought, cyclones, pests and diseases. Such factors appeal to risk-adverse Pacific farmers.

Southwest Pacific livestock subsectors are predominantly smallholder based. Smallholders comprise one or more households and may be either purely subsistence, partly commercial or highly commercial in their approach to managing livestock. While the relative importance of large commercial plantations is declining, there are increasing examples of cooperation between plantations and their surrounding smallholders, with clear mutual benefits such as employment, technology transfer, enhanced volumes to market, and better market access.

Recent experience in livestock system extension and training support projects indicates that Pacific farmers are willing to change their system management when a 50% productivity improvement or a 50% lowering in costs can be demonstrated. It is considered that around 50% of farmers will adopt affordable and high-impact technologies for production intensification over a 15 to 20 year period. Many livestock owners have paid for their major capital investments. For modest additional investment, improvements in the productivity of grazing systems in the order of 50–300% are attainable.

Sections 1.5 and 1.6 provide key statistics on ruminant and non-ruminant numbers in the Southwest Pacific. While in the major livestock countries ruminant livestock are numerically less significant (687 000 cattle, 24 500 sheep and 231 000 goats) than non-ruminant livestock (1.5 million pigs and 166.9 million chickens, see figures 1 and 2), they have a potential to increase smallholder incomes significantly through the adoption of proven practices in pasture improvement, grazing management and animal husbandry. Corporate pig and poultry production is significant in Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. Both intensive and extensive production would benefit from more effective use of local stockfeeds and quality forage legumes in diets.

Currently, 867 000 ha or 1.6% of total land area in the major producing countries is devoted to grazing. This represents 46% of all used arable and tree crop (excluding fallow) and pastoral land (see Figure 4; Table 3). If fallow lands are included, the proportion of grazing land falls to an estimated 26%. There is a scope for intensifying production from existing grazing lands and for bringing new areas into production. The potential for production expansion in the major countries is discussed in detail in Chapter 4.

1.1 Rural households and livestock: key statistics

The major livestock producing countries in the region are Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. They have a combined total population of approximately 6.08 million, including approximately 757 900 rural households. Table 1 shows that of these rural households, 438 900 or 58.7% raise pigs; 302 600 or 40% raise poultry; 68 800 or 9% raise cattle, 37 900 or 4.7% raise goats; and 3300 or 0.4% raise sheep. Overall, an estimated 65% of rural households have livestock, and of these between 14 and 16% have ruminants (cattle, goats or sheep). About 23% of households which own ruminants raise their livestock under, or in association with, coconuts (Macfarlane 1997).

In the small island states (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, French Polynesia, Marshall Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu) with a combined population of about 446 000 people, cattle are relatively less important than pigs and poultry and are kept by about 40 000 rural households or approximately 55% of the population (FAO 1997a).

Table 1 Key rural household livestock statistics for the Southwest Pacific

Note Except for goats in Samoa and sheep in Vanuatu, all figures rounded to nearest one hundred (100). Full sources and notes are provided in Appendix 1.

1.2 Background to livestock farming systems

Smallholdings

Southwest Pacific livestock subsectors are predominantly smallholder based and the relative importance of large commercial plantations is generally declining. A smallholding may be defined as a family farming unit of generally limited scale, where various household members participate in a farming system with a broad mix of traditional food crops, tree crops and livestock production. This is also integrated with important domestic, social and customary obligations.

Smallholdings comprise one or more households and may be either purely subsistence, partly commercial or highly commercial in their approach to managing livestock. There is considerable variation across the region. In Fiji the terms households and smallholdings are synonymous; that is, one household equals one smallholding. In Vanuatu there are 10 500 households with cattle which aggregate to form approximately 3500 smallholdings, along with 150 operating plantations. In Papua New Guinea, Banguinan et al. (1996) report 8700 cattle-owning households but the most recent estimate (K. Galgal, SRPM, Lae, 1995, Pers. comm.) indicates 620 known semi-commercial or commercial smallholdings. Samoa has an estimated 2400 households with cattle on about 1575 holdings. Overall, the 68 800 total cattle households of Table 1 comprise approximately 52 000 known smallholdings and 1000 plantations.

Smallholdings are frequently on customary land which is inherited partilinearly or matrilinearly. They also occur on land which is formally or informally leased from, or granted short- or long-term user rights by traditional landowners. Customary land often passes from one generation to the next without dispute. However, the possibility of disputes over customary land use entitlements can deter agricultural development requiring long-term commitments (e.g. forestry, coconuts, cocoa, coffee and cattle). Whether a smallholder or a plantation, the investment of time, capital and physical resources in non-subsistence livestock requires security of land tenure.

This Samoan smallholder family plans to improve their cattle enterprise.

Agricultural activities are also affected by other issues relating to land, e.g. where a household's land consists of disaggregated small pieces. This is common in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Some rural households attempt to increase their rights to land by fencing unused lands for enclosed cattle grazing or by the planting of coconuts. If a family can demonstrate it has consistently used a particular parcel of land, customary leaders will often allocate such lands to that family head who may then pass them on within that family.

Plantations (estates)

Plantations or estates for livestock, crops or both are found on freehold or on lands leased from customary owners under formal and government-registered agreements spanning between 10 and 75 years, with or without options for renewal. Such lands have clearly defined boundaries. Plantation owners or leaseholders may be either indigenous (non-customary or customary landowners), non-indigenous citizens, non-citizen expatriates or governments. Some successful plantations involve joint ventures between traditional landowners and local and/or overseas investors and/ or governments.

Plantations are usually of larger scale than smallholdings although there are some noteworthy exceptions. Plantations typically have less diverse activities and are commercially motivated, with overall management assigned to one individual. In Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu there are excellent examples of plantations linked closely with smallholders for mutual benefit. Such benefits could include:

• employment opportunities which provide management skills to smallholders

• provision of breeding animals by plantations and the subsequent right to purchase progeny

• larger market volumes leading to rationalised transport and cost savings.

The major livestock activity on plantations involves cattle, which have been consistently integrated with coconut plantations in the region for up to a hundred years. Though cattle were initially introduced as weed control agents, they have assumed increasing importance since the 1930s. Coconut replanting is not keeping pace with the advancing senility of palms and as a result copra yields are falling. With smaller canopies and reduced shade associated with ageing palms, more productive pastures can be grown-hence the increased interest in raising cattle under coconuts to maintain incomes. In fact, in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu there are many cattle plantations which are no longer have viable stands of coconuts. As with smallholdings, a primary determinant of plantation success is secure tenure of land over a commercially realistic timeframe.

The distinction between smallholding and plantation or estate can sometimes become blurred, particularly when scale is used as the principal criterion. For example, Chief Robert from the Big Bay area of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu leads a traditional lifestyle similar to his forbears except that he and his family have very commercial attitudes to cattle raising. They free-range breeders on unfenced native grasslands, and grow and fatten cattle for the Santo abattoir on improved pastures that are fenced adjacent to the main road. While at independence in 1980 they had fewer than 100 head, in 1994–1996 they were raising about 600 head. Currently, the median cattle plantation in Vanuatu is about 400 head although plantation numbers range from 100 to 10 000 head.

1.3 Economic and cultural role of livestock

As noted earlier, livestock are an integral part of rural life in the region, and the raising of poultry, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep and horses provides many benefits at the household or village level. These include regular or irregular (customary) consumption of animal protein as meat or milk, regular or irregular income flows, social status, weed control in a range of cropping systems, consumption of crop residues, transport, draught power, manure for cropping, and even hides for clothing or sale. Grazing also provides rapid income from many grasslands which have no sustainable options for annual cropping.

Variation in livestock activities

Regionally, there is considerable variation in livestock activities, and usually smallholders are involved with several animal species. Most smallholder households which raise pigs also raise poultry - mainly chickens but occasionally ducks. Most cattle farms also raise pigs and chickens with the exception of Hindu Indo-Fijian farmers who raise cattle, goats, sheep and pigs, and Muslim Indo-Fijian farmers who raise only cattle, sheep and goats. Hindu retailers will rarely sell pork for fear of offending Muslim customers and this reduces availability to potential Fijian customers who have no religious constraints. In Fiji, about 180 000 of the 254 000 cattle are classed as non-commercial and are used for household food security and draught with oxen sold at the end of their working life. Horses are used for draught and pack transport by Tongans, Fijians, a few Samoans and a growing number of ni-Vanuatu.

Horse-drawn maize planter at Montmartre Catholic Mission, Vanuatu.

Economic importance of livestock

Pigs, sheep, goats and particularly cattle are assets which are readily saleable and are relied upon for regular income as well as meeting large individual payments of rural households such as school fees. In Vanuatu and Samoa which have both suffered cyclone devastation in recent years, smallholders are increasingly viewing cattle enterprises as intrinsically more robust than tree crops and relatively cyclone proof. Samoan interest in cattle has also increased rapidly in the wake of bacterial blight devastation of the taro industry in 1993 which ended a ST$9 million per year export industry almost overnight.

Unlike copra, cocoa or coffee, cattle prices have rarely declined over the last decade, providing income stability. Cattle usually offer superior returns to labour than traditional tree crops, an increasingly important attribute as smallholder farmers age, though returns to labour for cash crops can frequently exceed that of cattle (Opio 1993). Apart from adding to family wealth, the ownership of pigs and cattle also confers status.

Customary use

The proportion of cattle consumed locally for subsistence or customary (informal) purposes varies widely. In Samoa approximately 70% of cattle are consumed in the informal market, whereas on Espiritu Santo 30% of smallholder cattle are consumed customarily and 70% are sold to the local abattoir. Carcass and boneless beef plays an important role in customary feasting, though in Melanesia the pig is paramount in customary significance. The ability to contribute livestock for customary purposes also confers status.

1.4 Potential for improvement

The majority of Southwest Pacific ruminant livestock smallholders in the continuum from subsistence to highly commercial enterprises have been involved in grazing for 10 to 30 years and are very familiar with livestock. Livestock farmers today compared to 20 years ago are more commercial, searching for income stability, reduced risk and good returns to labour particularly in later life. They can be more interested in ruminants than in cropping, provided they have access to adequate areas of securely tenured land.

Smallholder families have customary obligations.

Box 1 Cost-effectiveness of additional investment*

Responsiveness to new technologies

Recent experience in livestock system extension and training support projects indicates that Pacific farmers are willing to change their system management when a 50% productivity improvement or a 50% of farmers lowering in costs can be demonstrated. Overall, around 50% of farmers are considered responsive over a 20 year period to clear demonstration of affordable and high-impact technologies for production intensification. Many livestock owners have paid for their major capital investments and for modest additional investment, improvements in the productivity of grazing systems in the order of 50–300% are attainable.

Importance of familiarity with farming systems

Support to farmers in adopting improved methods must always be based on a detailed understanding of the social and economic realities of households - their goals and objectives and the many different demands on available time and resources. Pacific Island farmers, both men and women, spend varying proportions of their time with livestock, balancing competing demands from other subsistence and commercial crops, social obligations, domestic duties, off-farm business and employment commitments, and family time. Men will usually manage household cattle operations and women small ruminant, pig or poultry operations. For example, Samoan livestock farmers are more likely to have off-farm incomes than any other Southwest Pacific group. Some male Tannese cattle farmers from Vanuatu devote a specific day of the week to livestock, crops, markets and social obligations. Other ni-Vanuatu cattle farmers are less rigid in time allocation. Such factors must be taken into account in helping a rural household to change or improve the efficiency of their farming practices.

Farmer contribution to knowledge base

Pacific Island farmers are observant and innovative, and can contribute their valuable indigenous knowledge to the grazing system management knowledge base: e.g. knowledge of the pharmacological properties of native and some introduced plants, disease susceptibility or the use of fire in preparing for pasture establishment. Institutional extensionists need to give greater recognition to the integral role of innovative farmers in the extension process and to emphasise the transfer of proven indigenous practice between rural communities.

Table 2 Ruminant numbers in the Southwest Pacific

Note Full sources and notes are provided in Appendix 1.

Grazing animal health and pest status

In the Southwest Pacific which is relatively disease free, limitations to livestock production are overwhelmingly nutritional and management. Nonetheless, isolated pockets of bovine brucellosis, tuberculosis and trichinellosis in pigs exist which, with widespread leptospirosis, are of significant concern for public health and animal health and profitable production in the region (Saville 1994; P. Saville 1997, pers. comm.). Buffalo fly (Siphona exigua) adds additional costs to beef production in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, and the cattle tick (Boophilus micropolus) has constrained cattle in the Markham-Ramu area of Papua New Guinea and is present in New Caledonia. Farmers manage these problems by using tropically adapted genotypes, integrated insecticide programmes and rotational grazing. Screw worm treatment of young calves is frequently required in Papua New Guinea. Internal parasite control in sheep, which is critical for successful sheep raising in the region, is dependent upon careful use of effective anthelmintics as well as rotational grazing and correct pasture heights to minimise ingestion of infective parasitic eggs and larvae.

1.5 Ruminant livestock overview (beef cattle, dairy cattle, goats and sheep)

While ruminant livestock are numerically less significant than small, non-ruminant livestock, they have a potential to significantly increase smallholder incomes through the adoption of proven practices in pasture improvement, grazing management and animal husbandry.

According to Table 2, the combined Southwest Pacific region currently grazes 664 900 beef cattle, 30 100 dairy cattle, 24 900 sheep, 258 000 goats, 12 000 farmed deer and 110 000 feral deer (in New Caledonia), up to 3000 feral buffalo in the East Sepik Province and an unknown number of feral deer in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

Beef cattle, the predominant ruminant livestock species, are raised primarily for meat production and secondarily for draught purposes, the latter mainly in Fiji. There are also regionally significant dairy industries in Fiji and Tonga; sheep industries in Fiji and Papua New Guinea; and an important goat industry in Fiji.

1.6 Non-ruminant livestock overview (pigs, chickens and horses)

Customary importance of pigs

Across the region, pigs are raised mainly for important ceremonial and customary occasions. For such occasions pigs are either donated, exchanged or sold for cash. Native black, grey or striped pigs (e.g. Agouti) have been in Solomon Islands for 5000 years (de Frederick 1979) and even longer in Papua New Guinea.

Figure 1 Pig-owning households

Over the last century various European breeds have been introduced, and many crossed with local types. The introduced Saddleback, Berkshire and Tamworth genotypes have been better suited to free-range conditions than the Large White, Landrace and Duroc which are better suited to intensive, non-grazing production systems. De Frederick in his detailed study in Solomon Islands reported an average annual per capita consumption of up to 2.4 kg pig meat, noting that surveyed households feeding fish scraps and legumes to pigs had twice the sample mean growth rates in their pigs. Most Southwest Pacific households with pigs raise 3–8 head except Samoa, which has 14 pigs per owning household (Figure 1), giving a total regional population of 1.5 million pigs (derived from the country totals of percentages of households with pigs x total households [Table 1] x pigs per household). The lowest household participation rate in pig production is found in Fiji. Pig production systems vary from completely free ranging (with or without enclosure of crop areas) to tethering to permanent or evening penning (with pen feeding) to enclosed grazing.

Village poultry

Village poultry production is dominated by chickens derived from the native fowl or from various European introductions and all manner of crossbreeds. Regionally, chicken numbers per owning household vary from 4 in Solomon Islands to 16–27 for Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa (Figure 2). Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea have large poultry operations so the figures presented would overstate that found on an average farm. In New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea 30–40% of households have chickens whereas in all other countries at least 60% of households own chickens. Using FAO (1997a) data, an estimated 16.9 million chickens are kept by households in the major livestock countries.

Figure 2 Chicken-owning households

Intensive pig and poultry enterprises

Regionally, intensive pig and poultry industries (eggs and broilers) are most developed and corporatised in Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. The corporate sector has its own sources for technical assistance. Most large-scale intensive pig and poultry units are based on fully prepared rations derived from imported and local stockfeeds. In Papua New Guinea the corporate poultry industry relies on a network of contract smallholder outgrowers supported by an efficient extension service.

However, in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands there are numerous intermediate-sized, intensive commercial piggery and poultry operators who have indicated interest in increasing the proportion of locally available stockfeeds in diets in order to reduce costs and increase gross margins, despite a possible marginal reduction of growth rates. Demonstrating the more effective use of local stockfeeds combined with balanced use of legumes and specific trace element, amino acid, vitamin and possibly digestive enzyme supplementation offers scope for profit gains.

	Free-range poultry in Vanuatu.
	Free-range pigs in Samoa.

Horses

There are approximately 75 000 horses in the region of which 43 500 are found in Fiji. Figure 3 illustrates distribution by country. New Caledonia has the highest household involvement with horses. Horses for draught and meat are important in Tonga. In Samoa horses are largely smallholder based. In Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu they are evenly divided between smallholdings and plantations.

Due to inbreeding and inadequate nutrition (mainly forage quantity), village horses often lack sufficient size and strength to achieve their potential work output. Poor husbandry also limits equine productivity: poorly fitting saddles are a major constraint. Many regional plantations have maintained the quality of their horses through the regular introduction of new stallions. In Vanuatu the quality of horses for pack and sled work has been dramatically improved with a recently imported Clydesdale-Quarterhorse cross stallion managed by the Catholic Mission, Montmartre Trained progeny are sold to trained smallholders. Regionally, there is little evidence that institutional livestock extension services recognise the importance of feeding, management and potential work output of horses, as well as draught cattle.

Figure 3 Horse numbers by country

1.7 Overall land use and grazing resources

Historically, the position of livestock, grazing animals and grazing resources has tended to be excluded from many national and regional analyses of total land use in the Pacific. This section presents an overview of the place of crops, grazing livestock, and native and plantation forestry within total land resources, particularly within the seven major livestock producing countries in the Southwest Pacific.

Major land use categories

Table 3 provides a detailed break-up of land uses in the major producing countries. The total area of 53.3 million ha consists of:

1. arable and pastoral land (columns 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5): 1 876 000 ha or 3.5% of total land;

2. unused, unusable, or fallow land: 9 970 000 ha or 18.7% of total land;

3. native or plantation forests: 41 495 000 ha or 77.8% of total land.¹

¹ From Table 3 and in the interests of balance in understanding regional issues of land use, it is important to clarify frequently reported forest information. Whilst FAO (1997a) reports approximately 80% of the region is forested, Tonga is almost completely deforested and Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa have been significantly deforested, mainly for cropping but also for grazing.
In addition, such gross areas of forest give no indication of the range and areas of habitats of varying ecological and biodiversity value. Areas of primary, relatively undisturbed, rainforest only occur in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
The major causes of forest disturbance are cyclones, shifting cultivation for subsistence purposes, logging and commercial agriculture. Depending on the nature and frequency of such events a forest may regenerate to its former complexity and quality or it may degenerate over time. In the more humid areas of many Southwest Pacific countries significant forest disturbance is often followed by high, light-requiring native shrub and creeper species and introduced weeds which can smother rainforest seedlings necessary for regeneration. There are approximately 185 000–190 000 ha of plantation forests in the Southwest Pacific.
Important issues for forests are utilisation practices which sustain yields over time; strategic reafforestation including traditional and introduced agroforestry and silvopastoral systems; active discouragement of any further clearing of quality forest for commercial agriculture; and conservation of areas of significant biodiversity value.

Table 3 Overall land use: current and projected areas

Sources As for Table 2 plus General: Macfarlane et al. (1996); New Caledonia: Marchal (1997)
¹ Includes 95 000 ha of roadsides and domestic compounds and recently harvested sugarcane fields supporting 141 500 non-commercial dairy and beef cattle and 46 500 draught cattleon 39 000 cropping farms.
² Bracketed figures refer to country components of projected national and regional open area (1 046 000 ha), grazing under coconut (133 000 ha) or grazing integrated with crops and forest (34 000 ha) in the seven major livestock producing countries over a 15–20 year period. These figures are discussed further in Chapter 4. Projected areas are less than actual potential areas. Of the projected additional 227 000 ha of open native pasture brought into production, 179 000 ha is found in Papua New Guinea which has about 500 000 ha available. However, much of this is too remote to be considered to have realistic market potential in the projected timeframe.
In the projections only 20 000 ha of a potential 109 000 ha of land under coconuts is used. If the total potential area of 223 000 ha under coconuts were grazed, 339 000 ha would remain for inter-cropping. Grazing under coconuts should focus on lands with lower agronomic potential, e.g. high pH coastal coralline and shallow clay soil types unsuited to crop production. Over longer time frames, there are additional crop/forestry areas that are likely to be integrated with pastures but areas are difficult to quantify.
³ Figures on unused (including native grasslands), unusable and unreported crop fallow areas are obtained by difference from other FAO (1997a) figures.
⁴ FAO estimates of forest area vary from 36 million to 42 million hectares which leads to areas of unused, unusable and unreported fallow land ranging from 4 million to 10 million hectares.
⁵ Total figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. Total area (8) = 1+2+3+4+5+6+7.

Agricultural land use

While Table 3 provides the larger context of total land areas and land uses, Figure 4 shows the place of grazing within current overall agricultural uses which consist of:

1. grazed pastures (open and shaded): 867 000 ha or 46% of total agricultural use;²

2. coconut areas which are not grazed but which may be combined with other crops (intercropping): 448 000 ha or 24% of total agricultural use;

3. arable or tree crops other than coconuts, 561 000 ha or 30% of total agricultural use.

Figure 4 Current agricultural land uses in the major livestock countries

Inter-cropping under coconuts

Intercropping involves the simultaneous production of two or more crops such as cocoa, root crops, bananas, kava and vanilla on the same piece of land. These traditional inter-cropping systems which involve annual and perennial food crops, with or without trees, have existed for centuries. Inter-cropping involving coconuts can potentially compete with pastures under coconuts, but regional data on areas are not easily obtained. However, a significant proportion of the currently ungrazed 448 000 ha of coconut lands in this region is not used for inter-cropping.

Grazing resources

Grazing resources or forages are comprised of permanent pastures and forage crops. Permanent tropical and sub-tropical pastures of the Southwest Pacific are comprised largely of grasses with varying quantities of native and/or introduced legumes from which animals attempt to select and ingest their daily intake requirements. In New Caledonia surplus permanent pasture is sometimes conserved.

Forage crops include annual or biennial pasture plants (e.g. forage sorghums, dolichos lablab or cowpea) or the leaves/pseudostem of commercial crops such as sugar cane or bananas. Forage crops can be either directly grazed, cut and carried to the grazing animal, or conserved as hay (New Caledonia) or silage (Fiji and New Caledonia) for subsequent feeding. Conserved pastures or forage crops are sometimes termed fodders. Supplements are non-forage feeds and nutrients given to livestock, such as mineral blocks, mineral injections, palm kernel and coconut cake or meal, molasses, pea meal and bran.

² Data on total fallow areas are not available, but a ratio of 1:3 of arable, non-permanent tree crop land to fallow is frequently assumed in the region. This suggests a total fallow area of about 1.5m ha currently. The inclusion of fallow lands, an integral part of agricultural systems, reduces the proportion of total agricultural land use devoted to grazing to 26%.

	Inter-cropping yams and sweet potato with coconuts on Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
	Weed-infested coconut lands not used for inter-cropping or grazing.

Different types of grazing

Grazing takes several forms in the Southwest Pacific. While most is carried out on open pastures, cattle and other ruminants are also grazed under shade (under coconuts or native forest trees). Table 3 shows that ruminants and non-ruminants in the seven major producing countries graze 739 000 ha of open pastures and forages (including an estimated 95 000 ha per year of sugar cane and other crop stubble/tops, roadsides and domestic compounds in Fiji), 114 000 ha under coconuts, and 14 000 ha under native, mainly regrowth forests as in Vanuatu, or replanted forests. The minor livestock producing countries of Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna contribute an additional area of 20 000 ha open pastures (mainly French Polynesia), 24 000 ha pastures under coconuts (mainly French Polynesia) and 69 000 ha of inter-cropped or unused coconuts. French Polynesia, Cooks and Niue have potential to develop ruminant grazing. The other small states can improve non-ruminant production with quality forages.

As a share of total grazing areas in the major producing countries, open grazed pastures represent 85%, grazing under coconuts 13% and grazing under forest trees 1.6%. Figure 4 shows that as a share of agricultural areas, open grazing represents 39% though this ranges from 6% in Solomon Islands to 51% in Fiji (FAO 1997a).

Potential for expansion of grazing areas

The considerable area of coconut lands currently not used for grazing (448 000 ha) represents the most significant opportunity for expansion of grazing lands in the Southwest Pacific. Given positive beef marketing and profitability conditions, it is suggested that the area of grazing under coconuts could be increased (particularly through expansion in Papua New Guinea) from 114 000 ha to 223 000 ha, without compromising land for inter-cropping (see bracketed figures in Table 3).

Regional copra production and its relation to grazing

Rural households with access to coconuts consume between 4 and 30 coconuts per day for domestic purposes and small livestock feeding. Provided prices are attractive, the balance of harvested coconuts are cut and dried copra is marketed (though not all fallen coconuts are harvested). According to FAO (1997a), regional copra production in 1995 was approximately 240 000 tonnes, down from 280 000 tonnes in 1988. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are the major producers (122 000, 26 000 and 30 000 tonnes respectively). In 1995 minor countries listed in Table 2 produced 40 000 tonnes of copra. Table 3 shows that approximately 4% of Papua New Guinea's coconut lands are grazed whereas 45% of Fiji's and Vanuatu's coconut lands are associated with grazing.

Vanuatu's active smallholder coconut replanting programme is reflected in constant copra production figures. However, across the region the level of copra cutting appears to be declining because of labour constraints and costs, high freight costs and better alternative returns to labour. Regional smallholders are increasingly seeking advice on different coconut planting arrangements to increase productivity of understorey improved pastures and inter-cropping production. This is a priority area for farming systems research.

Major locations of grazing livestock activities

Climatic factors

Most ruminants are grazed on open pastures and are well represented in environments which recieve less than 1800 mm rainfall per year with a pronounced 3–5 month dry season, and those which receive between 1800 mm and 3500 mm rain with no or minimal dry seasons. Current significant grazing areas receiving more than 3500 mm annual rainfall are confined to the Central Division of Fiji, much of Samoa, Malaita in Solomon Islands, and the Sepik, Madang and eastern Markham areas in Papua New Guinea. Most open grazing occurs at altitudes of up to 500 metres and commercial operations are situated close to roads.

Grazing under coconuts occurs at altitudes of 300 metres or less. Coconuts prefer a rainfall environment of 2500–3500 mm per annum and there are no significant areas of coconuts receiving less than 1600 mm annual rainfall in the region. Coconuts are generally found on coastal alluvial or coralline-derived soils where steep upland interiors exist. On less elevated islands, coconuts are grown on a range of soil types up to its altitude limit and in some cases may totally cover islands, e.g. Tongatapu in Tonga and Russell Islands in Solomon Islands. The current main grazing environments in the Southwest Pacific are shown in Table 3, and are sub-divided on the basis of rainfall greater or less than 1600–1800 mm per year and whether open or shaded.

Table 4 Major current pasture and forage environments

Representative grazing landscapes

Within the major grazing locations described in Table 4 a range of pasture systems exist. Table 8 in Appendix 2 refers to 8–14 forage types depending on country. These are categorised according to level of shade, rainfall, degree of pasture improvement and cover crop residues.

Native mission grass pastures on Guadalcanal Plains, Solomon Islands (left).
Themeda Imperata, Heteropogon, Dicanthium native grasslands in the Markham Valley, Papua New Guinea.
Signal grass introduced into New Caledonian grazing systems (left).
Weedy native t-grass pastures on phosphorus-deficient soils on Malaita, Solomon Islands.
Signal-native legume pastures on South Santo Cattle Project, Vanuatu (left).
Naturalised introduced guinea grass in crop fallow areas in Tonga.
Nadi blue-native legume pastures, Sigatoka, Viti Levu, Fiji (left).
Native t-grass growing on stony, basaltic soils on Savaii, Samoa.
Weed-free, correctly stocked buffalo grassnative legumes under coconuts, Malekula, Vanuatu.