The problem — how chasing GDP cost Fiji its sovereignty For more than 40 years, Fiji has traded rural strength for urban dependence in pursuit of GDP growth. Imported food filled supermarkets, fueling warehouses and distribution centers. Wage jobs expanded, rural–urban migration accelerated, and once-productive farms were abandoned because importing became cheaper than growing. Coups only deepened this disruption. This narrow obsession with GDP has eroded both resilience and sovereignty. Reliance on sugar, tourism, remittances, and labour export schemes (PALM, RSE) has hollowed out Fiji’s agricultural base. Food imports now dominate, while thousands of young people leave villages every year, leaving fertile land idle and communities weakened.
The consequences are clear:
- Over 70 per cent of Fiji’s food is imported.
- Thousands of youth leave villages annually, leaving farmland unused.
- Rural communities weaken, driving poverty, urban drift, and social breakdown.
Tourism, which makes up a large portion of GDP, collapsed during COVID-19. Sugar, once the backbone of the economy, survives largely on subsidies, with the miller facing losses and many farmers under financial stress. This rural decline fuels homelessness, youth delinquency, HIV, drug abuse, and race-related tensions. Trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand — SPARTECA and PACER Plus — have worsened matters, swelling Fiji’s trade deficit and enriching foreign countries and banks at Fiji’s expense.
Trade Agreements: A failed promise
Fiji’s trade deals promised growth, but instead deepened dependency. They undermined local industries and favoured foreign interests. The results are stark:
- Imports supply a large share of Fiji’s food and goods, while domestic agricultural output has stagnated.
- Thousands of young Fijians migrate under labour mobility schemes each year, leaving farms idle.
- Imported processed foods fuel Fiji’s diabetes epidemic, straining healthcare.
Other agreements — PICTA, MSGTA, and EU/UK EPAs — locked Fiji into a consumer role. To reclaim sovereignty, Fiji must renegotiate or exit these deals, restore protective tariffs, and diversify trade. A rebalanced Pacific Islands Forum, less dominated by Australia and New Zealand, could prioritise Pacific-led agendas. The goal must be sovereignty built on self-reliance, resilience, and long-term prosperity.
India: A partner for full-spectrum autonomy
India’s unique strengths across agriculture, renewable energy, fintech, healthcare, education, security, governance, and infrastructure position it as the only country capable of comprehensively addressing Fiji’s needs. As a leader of the Global South, India combines technological prowess, scalable solutions, and a non-hegemonic, grant-based approach.
- Food security — from dependency to abundance
- Fiji’s challenge: high food imports, idle farmland, and declining rural productivity.
- India’s strength: world’s largest producer of rice and dairy. High-yield, climate-resilient seeds and precision farming technologies, including drones and greenhouses, can revive Fiji’s rice, millet, coconut oil, livestock, and fisheries.
India’s cooperative models, like Amul, provide a blueprint for village-based dairy and agro-processing hubs, creating jobs, reducing imports, and promoting local diets to lower NCDs rates.
- Energy independence — harnessing solar power
- Fiji’s challenge: heavy reliance on imported fuel.
- India’s strength: renewable capacity of 180 GW, with one of the world’s lowest solar tariffs. Rooftop solar and battery storage models, proven in millions of Indian homes, can support Fiji’s solar adoption, while India’s electric vehicle ecosystem enables affordable transport electrification.
- Concessional financing and technical support allow Fiji to cut fuel imports, create renewable energy jobs, and stabilize its energy system without debt traps. Financial independence — empowering local economies
- Fiji’s challenge: limited financial infrastructure and foreign bank dependency. India’s strength: UPI-style digital payments, cooperative banking systems, and microfinance models can link villages to markets, empower MSMEs, reduce import dependence, and build financial literacy. Rupee-based trade partnerships offer insulation against currency volatility, while grant-based aid and training programs strengthen local capacity without debt.
- Health and well-being — strengthening communities
- Fiji’s challenge: high rates of diabetes and limited rural healthcare access.
- India’s strength: affordable generic medicines, vaccines, and telemedicine platforms can extend care to rural areas. Integrative wellness programs and nutrition initiatives support local diets, reduce NCDs, and improve life expectancy. India’s holistic approach combines modern medicine with traditional preventive care.
4. Knowledge and innovation — building self-reliance
- Fiji’s challenge: education system focused on job-seeking rather than entrepreneurship.
- India’s strength: universities, IITs, and a thriving startup ecosystem offer a model for innovation-led growth. Digital learning platforms and AI applications in agriculture, fisheries, and energy can upskill youth, increase STEM participation, and expand high-value exports.
5. Security — from villages to the EEZ
Fiji’s challenge: crime, idle youth, and illegal fishing in the EEZ.
India’s strength: naval expertise, training for Fijian officers, and community policing models can secure both villages and maritime zones. Youth programs can engage young people in enterprises, reducing crime and enhancing sovereignty.
6. Governance — enabling sovereignty
- Fiji’s challenge: weak institutions and governance inefficiencies.
- India’s strength: digital ID systems, e-governance platforms, and anti-corruption frameworks offer scalable models to strengthen public institutions, improve accountability, and decentralize decision-making to villages.
7. Infrastructure — connecting villages to markets
- Fiji’s challenge: weak rural roads, ports, and water systems.
- India’s strength: large-scale infrastructure experience and concessional financing can modernise ports, roads, digital networks, and water supply, connecting villages to markets and boosting economic activity without creating debt dependency.
8. Why India is Fiji’s best partner
Unlike Western nations, whose trade agreements often deepen dependency, or China’s debt-heavy Belt and Road approach, India offers a grant-based, technology-driven, culturally aligned model. Its expertise across agriculture, renewables, fintech, health, education, security, governance, and infrastructure is uniquely scalable and affordable. Through existing aid and training programs, India can help Fiji halve food and fuel imports, create tens of thousands of jobs, reduce NCDs, and achieve full-spectrum sovereignty.
A decolonised future
Fiji stands at a crossroads. One path perpetuates dependency—declining sugar exports, labor migration, and imported food. The other charts a bold, resilient future, anchored in partnership with India. The blueprint exists. The resolve must follow.
- SUNIL CHAND is an engineer, educator, and economic commentator with 30 years of experience in manufacturing, regulation, and higher education. The views expressed are his own.
