Research options for high-value agricultural exports in South Pacific island nations

The 10 nations are representative of many small developing nations that suffer special problems in carrying out agricultural research, notably diseconomies of institutional development, small production bases and markets, fragile and/or restricted agricultural resource bases, and vulnerability of institutions. In the first stage of the study, the histories of all significant high-value agricultural export industries are charted, identifying determinants of their emergence and market defence and, in the case of those no longer in existence, factors contributing to their demise. Over 30 industries were included, including global staples, traditional export crops, minor food crops, high-value non-traditional (HVNT) exports, and livestock. Numerous factors are shown to influence high-value agricultural export performance -- the investment climate and economic background for high-value agricultural exports, commitment to a competitive export marketing strategy, and production and marketing factors. In the second stage of the study, findings are compared with criteria for successful agricultural research in small developing nations. Implications of findings were explored for establishing research priorities, covering strategic decisions about horizontal versus vertical diversification; mix of traditional crop, minor food crop, and HVNT exports; priorities accorded to general versus specific factors influencing export performance; how best to deal with multiple symptoms of export failure; market penetration versus market defence research; production versus marketing research; and how best to integrate the production and marketing of high-value exports. Improving public sector support to high-value export industries was identified as an urgent government responsibility. An innovative approach to providing an essential plank of this support is a research portfolio approach that recognizes the difficult environment in which research is undertaken. Key research functions and institutional responsibilities in research are identified to improve a small nation"s ability to create, penetrate, and defend high-value agricultural export markets. (Author abstract, modified)