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Getting Property rights 'right': Land tenure in Fiji
Abstract
Since the mid-1980s Fiji has moved away from an inwardlooking strategy for economic growth and development, pursuing structural adjustment policies to improve competitiveness and export performance. Despite these attempts the overall performance of the economy has been far from sluggish. The slow pace of economic reforms has been blamed for the economy's poor performance. However, often left out of the equation is the issue of property rights. The insecurity of land tenure in all sectors has impaired investment and new entrepreneurship. The impending expiry of leases in the sugar industry and the way this is resolved will determine the future of the industry. The role of the Native Land Trust Board and the government in successfully resolving the leases under the Agricultural and Landlords Tenant Act is critical. Security of tenure for tourism, industrial and residential development also needs to be considered. Long-term leases and proper contractual enforcement can create an overall climate conducive for investment and entrepreneurship in all sectors of the Fijian economy.
... Access, use, creation, and transition are examples of rights that occur alongside possession. On this basis, it is clear that the way society distributes ownership and rights to land is a vital indication of that society since land rights should be kept to respect rights in other aspects of public life (Prasad and Tisdell, 2019). ...
Increased demand for fertile lands has resulted from the exponential growth of the world's population in the twenty-first century. This mechanism results in widespread land tenure adjustments in a specific arrangement of rights, partnerships, and structures, which is in direct opposition to the existence of land as a small and necessary asset. While several attempts have been made to clarify land tenure conflicts, and scholars have studied them from different perspectives, there is still a significant gap in our knowledge of land tenure-related conflicts in the agricultural system and their production. As a result, this paper examined 85 pieces of literature (from 2013 to 2021) on the impact of land registration on the link between land tenure and agricultural productivity in Iran and throughout the world. Land tenure arrangements in Iran are evolving as a result of land demand and improvements in agricultural techniques, according to the results. Furthermore, each land tenure scheme can include a variety of land types, each with its own set of rules and patterns for use. The findings showed that further research with a combined locally-set methodology is required to better understand any relationship(s) between land tenure system (LTS) and agricultural production (AP), in addition to highlighting the value of land knowledge updating and the efficiency of local land management institutions. This study concluded that explaining land-related conflicts, mechanisms of power, and legal actions are important steps toward guiding the consequences of the growth of agricultural LTS in Iran, which leads to effective solutions at the area level.
... Previously, TLTB held a monopoly as the sole intermediary of customary land leases between Indigenous landowners and lessees (Lal et al., 2001). Prasad and Tisdell (1996) argue from an economics-based view that TLTB can be viewed as an institutional monopoly and monopsony as its enormous power enables TLTB to affect prices in the customary land market at both the "production and distribution on a national scale" (p.85). The introduction of the land bank breaks TLTB's monopoly as it provides an alternative option to the leasing of customary land. ...
The paper examines the role of accounting and audit technologies in various forms of resistance that were enacted by Indigenous Fijians to a neoliberal reform of customary land. The paper highlights the non-neutrality of accounting as it was used by the state to facilitate the implementation of the neoliberal reform and used by Indigenous Fijians to resist land reform. The land reform sought to enhance the existing system of land tenure with the creation of a land bank to promote the utilisation of customary land in Fiji. The paper analyses the first lease to be issued under the newly introduced system – Fiji’s first bauxite mine in the province of Bua. The study is informed by the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and draws on data from publicly available documents and semi-structured interviews with Indigenous landowners, government officials and company representatives. The paper extends prior literature by illustrating the agency of Indigenous peoples in the use of accounting as a form of resistance. Resistance to this land policy was enacted by Indigenous peoples that involved the non-compliance with technical accounting requirements, resisting the default method by which lease rentals were to be distributed (and therefore accounted for) and utilising audit reports (an accounting-related technology) to mobilise a petition against the land reform that eventually led to a parliamentary inquiry. The paper shows how Indigenous Fijians were “pulled” into the “game” of neoliberalism but rather than being fully enchanted by its symbolic order, they were able to “resist” the game with the technologies of accounting and auditing playing a crucial role in this resistance.
... Since then, this sector sustained poor performance. Commentators attributed the decline of the industry to the forced eviction of farmers due to expiry of land leases, poor supply of sugarcane due to low productivity, development of other less resource-intensive industries, and unfavourable weather and political conditions (Pacific Community 2017; Prasad and Tisdell 1996). In 2008, export earnings from sugar exports rose to US$136.7 m compared to US$103.2 m in 2007. ...
The previous studies of exports performance in Fiji were carried out at the aggregate level. We conduct a disaggregated analysis of exports of three major products, namely, sugar, tourism, and gold. This analysis is useful for developing sector-based export promotion policies. The long run as well as dynamic export demand functions are estimated at the aggregate and disaggregate levels. The results identify a number of factors such as trading partner income, relative prices, productivity shocks, natural disasters, political disturbances, and the exchange rate that affect the export demand for sugar, tourism, and gold, though not in the same way. For instance, tourism and sugar enjoy the highest income elasticity. Sugar export is adversely affected by natural calamities and political upheavals. The political upheavals also affect tourism adversely in Fiji. The exchange rate affects the export of sugar more than others. The idea that devaluation will promote exports in Fiji needs careful investigation because results show that this will happen with a high cost, i.e. 5% nominal devaluation will be required to increase real exports by 1%.
... While Indigenous Fijians believe in wealth distribution within the community, their belief is that wealth is not necessarily something that should be distributed equally but based on customary hierarchies (Brison, 2007). This was captured in the previous land lease distribution system under the TLTB where the lion's share of lease rentals would be first distributed to the heads of the landowning units (Prasad and Tisdell, 1996). In this case, the heads of the Tokatoka received $10,000 each while the remaining 144 members received $2,000 each. ...
This paper situates Indigenous social reproduction as a duality; as both a site of primitive accumulation and as a critical, resurgent, land-based practice. Drawing on three distinct cases from British Columbia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and Bua, Fiji, we illustrate how accounting techniques can be a key mechanism with which Indigenous modes of life are brought to the market and are often foundational to the establishment of markets. We argue that accounting practices operate at the vanguard of primitive accumulation by extracting once invaluable outsides (e.g. Indigenous land and bodies) and rendering these either valuable or valueless for the social reproduction of settler society. The commodification of Indigenous social reproduction sustains the conditions that enable capitalism to flourish through primitive accumulation. However, we privilege Indigenous agency, resistance and resurgence in our analysis to illustrate that these techniques of commodification through accounting are not inevitable. They are resisted or wielded towards Indigenous alternatives at every point.
... One of the key obstacles to the performance of the Fijian economy has been the uncertainty of property rights to land in Fiji. There is no doubt that this uncertainty has affected production and efficiency in both the agriculture and the tourism sectors (Prasad and Tisdell 1996). Under the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act (ALTA), native land leases had been granted to tenants for 30 years. ...
... Furthermore, this view as been backed by many previous researchers [14]. Moreover, arrangements which are intended to lessen poverty and income disparity bolster stronger development in the economy [15], [16]. The above gives proof that the "stream down" hypothesis in many creating nations did not work notwithstanding supported dimensions of financial development. ...
... One of the key obstacles to the performance of the Fijian economy has been the uncertainty of property rights to land in Fiji. There is no doubt that this uncertainty has affected production and efficiency in both the agriculture and the tourism sectors (Prasad and Tisdell 1996). Under the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act (ALTA), native land leases had been granted to tenants for 30 years. ...
Squatter settlement in Fiji has been increasing, becoming a national issue. Many young and old move away from the rural sector due to a lack of development and resettle in urban areas seeking better jobs and lifestyles. Hence, not everyone is fortunate to purchase land or build a dream house. Many choose to reside in areas where it is deemed cheap. The paper will highlight the importance of urban development when it comes to growth in housing and sanitation. The main aim is to determine the extent of securing property rights in the urban sectors. Every year and continuously, rural and urban migration drift is happening, and with the significant rise, many try to find employment in either the formal or informal sector. Therefore, this leads to an increase in people living in urban areas and the need to seek property to live in. This migration creates a high demand for property in the formal or informal sector. The paper will establish the salient link between informal and formal property rights and the importance of property rights issues in the urban sector. The article will also highlight the institutional constraints to economic development and how they can be strengthened. There are issues about having informal property and how it affects the formal sector and the economy's growth.
This contribution will deal with granting rights to nature. We will define nature rights as a social process of creating institutions which are linked to philosophical discourses on nature perceptions. The idea is to use different narratives in order to understand how nature rights have and can be accomplished/derived by humans. Then we will give hints for future directions of right detection embedded in eco-systems. We will specifically focus on right derivation needed for contracting with nature. We take beaver, wolf and black tern as examples and generalize on case specific findings. All of them need habitats and landscapes in which they can live. The message is that landscapes and habitats are part of nature rights and that they must be also addressed, not only nature rights for individual species. Additionally, we will use different strains of thought to get hints on practical nature rights establishment.
The failure in addressing tenure rights in North Korea could be a severe obstacle to introducing forestry carbon trading since it becomes difficult for the land occupant to serve as a supporter to maintain the carbon pool. North Korea is one of the few countries in the world, holding a people’s registration system. North Korean citizens use lands allocated by the State for their entire life because they are not free to move their residences. The article indicates that the people’s registration card is solid evidence for fixed residence and stable land tenure. The card could be used as evidential documents to compensate carbon credit owners in compliance with the international standards for land tenure recognition. This article established a solid evidential foundation to introduce land tenure in North Korea.
Why are the ambitions of economic development practitioners and reformers so often disappointed? One answer is that development
policymakers and reformers are congenital optimists. Another answer is that good plans are regularly defeated by those who
occupy strategic positions. An intermediate answer is that institutions are important, yet are persistently neglected in the
planning process. The article takes a bottom-up, microanalytic approach to economic development and reform. It examines the
governance of contract, investment, and private ordering through the lens of transaction-cost economizing. And it assesses
the efficacy of the de facto (as against the de jure) institutional environment with respect to credible commitments. In effect,
institutional economists are cast in the role of archaeologists of economic reform and development—with the of task unpacking
the lessons of the past to inform choices and programs for the future.