A more sustainable future

With the nation’s debt ever increasing, finding ways to reduce the deficit should be top of every political party’s agenda.
Perhaps one of the most beneficial methods, one that will increase self-sufficiency in the Cook Islands, is to encourage residents and visitors alike to purchase local products over imported ones. Another method is to encourage the commercial plantation of staple foodstuffs, crops that are routinely imported and sold at dramatically high markups – crops such as capsicum and potatoes, and produce such as eggs.
A recent example of the problems that arise when focusing on imported produce is the current lack of potatoes on Rarotonga. Last week, potatoes cost $1.50 per kilo at Foodland in Avarua. After a few days where they weren’t available at all, a new supply suddenly appeared at a cost of $2.50 per kilo, a whopping 60 per cent increase within the space of a week.
White onions have temporarily disappeared altogether, having been replaced by red onions costing five times the price.
I asked a Foodland rep about these price hikes and was told they were due to the produce being air freighted into the country. If potatoes and onions were produced internally, perhaps massive price hikes of staple foodstuffs such as these could be avoided.
There have been reports that plans are underway to look at the feasibility of growing these types of products on the other Southern Group islands. Perhaps now is the time to push forward these plans and look to the next few years’ food needs. Because as the prices rise for staple foodstuffs, this indicates a rise in the general cost of living, which, in turn dictates that prices for other foodstuffs and services will begin to rise, making the Cook Islands a more expensive place to live.
Will workers’ wage packets reflect this inflation? Will the minimum wage rise with the cost of potatoes? And what of the anticipated increased tourism numbers? Surely the amount of food needed on the island will dramatically increase if something isn’t done about providing more foodstuffs and more frequent shipping schedules. If not, then these mini shortages could become all too common. If the people of the Cook Islands are having difficulties getting some of the most basic products then the bright lights of Auckland become ever brighter and increased depopulation is a very real threat.
The same goes for other local produce already commercially planted. Why not offer reasonably priced local fruit and vegetables at the island’s supermarkets? Why is there a focus on imported New Zealand fare rather than something grown right here?
Though it is to be commended that some local products are already available they do have a tendency to be priced higher than similar imported fare. Could these products not be the focus of such schemes as the recent Pensioner Day scheme, whereby pensioners receive discounts on locally produced vegetables and fruit, thus encouraging a healthy diet?
This writer also wishes to know why a local pawpaw costs $2.40 at CITC and generally only a dollar at the Punanga Nui? That’s a massive markup and cannot be explained away by the cost of importation or the overhead costs of a supermarket.
If stores held local produce such as avocados, paw paws and mangoes in stock during the week prior to market day, perhaps at only a marginal markup from the prices available each Saturday instead of more than double the market prices, tourists would have access to this produce throughout their stay.
The allure of fresh tropical fruit at the market is hampered by the fact that most tourists’ seven-day stay coincides with the last few days of their vacation falling upon market day, where unripe fruit will not ripen before they go home. This problem could be alleviated in part by the aforementioned solution. Perhaps if locally-produced goods were price-matched with imported fare then the choice over whether to buy local would lie with the consumer who wouldn’t be making their decision solely for economic reasons.
As visitors are Rarotonga’s main import, perhaps another way to ensure a burgeoning economy is to focus on selling handicrafts that are produced locally and are certified so. As a visitor to this country, you should only purchase Cook Islands products, not cheap Chinese-made imitations or products from other countries.
Perfect examples are the Cook Islands black pearls. These are produced locally and customers are made aware of this, via a certificate with each pearl. If customers were informed how this money is used in local communities in the pearl-producing islands of Manihiki and Penrhyn and knew that their purchases directly benefit the communities that harvest and grow them, that these pearl farmers were paid well for their work and that money was donated to their communities by the jewelry stores to increase their living standards, then these items could be sold responsibly, potentially under the globally recognised “Fair Trade” mark.
The scope of this article is not to cover every item that is imported into this country. The feasibility of producing enough corned beef for the nation via local production methods is economically nonviable. However a system encouraging local purchases for those products that are and can be grown in this nation, is a simple and evident solution.
The hydroponic production of lettuce and various herbs and salad produce is to be commended. This can be used as an example to the rest of the nation of the potential for creating a new market for a vastly increased internal production of crops. Obviously this mantra doesn’t pertain solely to foodstuffs – why buy river pearls from China when buying local pearls will help out a fellow islander?
This idea goes for visitors as well as locals. Your money has the potential to go back into the Cook Islands economy and engender a spirit of self-sufficiency instead of traveling abroad and filling another country’s pockets.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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- Budget will decide if residents prosecute Government over landfill
- Forestry project sucking Mangaia dry
- Budget 2010 – fiasco or disaster?