The limits to accumulation: Changing land tenure in Fiji

Processes of class formation in rural Fiji have been suggested in a number of recent works. Land accumulation has been seen as a vital part of this and the effects observed have included landless‐ness and poverty. However, this article suggests that the limits to such land accumulation may have been reached in some areas. Because Fiji has retained a form of communal tenure over most of its land, indigenous Fijians have been able to resist continued loss of land through leasing. This is not because they are opposed to commercial agriculture or individual gain but more because their effective sovereignty over land has been lost to the state and returns to leasing are minimal.