Title: The role of government in providing adequate food supplies : tariffs, quotas, subsidies, and other approaches

Abstract: In most Pacific island nations today, government are commited to the goal of rapid economic development. This is expressed in their constant indulgence in the laborious and comprising exercise of preparing succesive development plans. Economic development in the final analysis deals with the complex problem of choices. These choices determine the use of resources for the purpose of expanding quantity and quality of goods and services available to the population of the country. As in most developing countries, the economic planners in the Pacific island nations have regarded the clue to economic development as being hinged on structural change. Thereby, emphasizing the reallocation of resources so as to attain the optimum or target output produced in a given period. In this context, its important to recognize that we are concerned with the allocation or rellocation of resources which are not only limited but sources are scarce only in relation to the people's expectations and desires.