MODELING CROPPING DECISIONS IN A RURAL DEVELOPING-COUNTRY - A MULTIPLE-OBJECTIVE PROGRAMMING APPROACH

Subsistence level farming characterizes most of the agricultural production in Western Samoa. In recent years, the Samoan Government has encouraged farmers to increase the production of exportable crops in order to improve the national trade balance. Recent efforts to stimulate export production have had limited success. In Western Samoa, farmers' decisions are heavily influenced by factors that reside outside of the market. Agricultural policies developed around the premise that farmers solely maximize profits have inevitably failed. This research evaluates market and nonmarket crop values for a rural subsistence farm in Western Samoa. The model includes multiple crops; market and nonmarket crop uses; and seasonality in production, consumption, and labor supply. Results show that an important exportable crop in Western Samoa has a nonmarket imputed value that is three to five times greater than the market price.