The outer island of Kadavu is representative of the Fijian periphery. This
paper deals with its physical characteristics, infrastructural conditions,
and village economic activities with the aim of understanding the changes
it has gone through in recent years. A combination of micro-geographic
studies in two villages and a meso-geographical analysis show that
the pattern of development found in Kadavu in the early 1980s has not
changed much. The current pattern of cash crop production and trade
is almost entirely dependent on the kava beverage crop, infrastructure
is underdeveloped, the island suffers from the peripheral penalty
phenomenon, and government initiatives aimed at changing the trend
are very limited. However, the current form of non-capitalist production
and its derived benefit has forced villagers into a strategy of adaptation
which might actually be preferable for them under the current conditions
of peripheralization.