- Impacts of Total Factor Productivity on Agricultural Growth in Pacific Island Countries
- Genetic Loss in Food Crops in the Pacific: Socio-Economics Causes and Policy Issues
- An insight into public sector readiness for change – the Fiji Experience
- Regulations, Costs and Informality: The Case of Fiji
- The effectiveness of the destination websites in promoting linkages between visitors and the community in Tonga
- Hayden White and the Burden of History
- A comparative study of stress amongst teachers of the western division in Fiji
- Australia – A Hegemonic Power in the Pacific Region
- The Magnus Effect and the Flettner Rotor: Potential Application for Future Oceanic Shipping
- Irrigated ethnoagriculture, adaptation and development: a Pacific case study
- Impacts of Total Factor Productivity on Agricultural Growth in Pacific Island Countries
- Genetic Loss in Food Crops in the Pacific: Socio-Economics Causes and Policy Issues
- An insight into public sector readiness for change – the Fiji Experience
- Regulations, Costs and Informality: The Case of Fiji
- The effectiveness of the destination websites in promoting linkages between visitors and the community in Tonga
- Hayden White and the Burden of History
- A comparative study of stress amongst teachers of the western division in Fiji
- Australia – A Hegemonic Power in the Pacific Region
- The Magnus Effect and the Flettner Rotor: Potential Application for Future Oceanic Shipping
- Irrigated ethnoagriculture, adaptation and development: a Pacific case study
Genetic Loss in Food Crops in the Pacific: Socio-Economics Causes and Policy Issues
Author: Clement A. Tisdell
Abstract
Genetic diversity of traditional food crops is declining in the Pacific Islands. Background information on the evolution of the diversity of these crops is provided, socioeconomic reasons for this loss are outlined, the economic consequences of this loss are analysed, and the economic benefits and costs of conserving crop varieties is examined. The potential economic benefits foregone by failing to conserve a crop variety are shown to depend on the nature of the demand function for the crop’s production. The economics associated with the conservation of crop diversity by in situ and ex situ methods are discussed.
Keywords: Biodiversity loss, crop varieties, gene banks, genetic capital, food crops, food security, Pacific Islands, sustainable development.