Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea edited by R. Michael Bourke and Tracy Harwood Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/food_agriculture_citation.html This edition © 2009 ANU E Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Food and agriculture in Papua New Guinea / editors, R. Michael Bourke, Tracy Harwood. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 9781921536601 (pbk) ISBN 9781921536618 (pdf) Agriculture--Papua New Guinea Agriculture--Economic aspects--Papua New Guinea. Agricultural productivity--Papua New Guinea. 630.9953 Suggested citation: Bourke, R.M. and Harwood, T. (eds) (2009). Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea. ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra. http://rspas.anu.edu.au/lmg/ Design: Sam Highley, Clarus Design Typeface: Minion Pro Index: Tracy Harwood Cover: Yasisime from Asirangka village in the Aiyura basin, Eastern Highlands Province, weeds a peanut plot. Peanut is grown for both home consumption and for sale locally. It is grown in rotation with sweet potato to maintain soil fertility. The plot on the left contains sweet potato, the staple food in the highlands, and other food crops. Casuarina trees in the background shade Arabica coffee, the most important cash crop in the highlands. Photo by Mike Bourke. Contents Foreword . vii Charles W. Lepani Contributors . viii Acknowledgements . x Acronyms and initialisms . xii Botanical names . xiv Conventions, data sources and limitations . xxii Twenty myths about Papua New Guinea agriculture . 1 R. Michael Bourke and Bryant Allen Introduction . .5 R. Michael Bourke and Bryant Allen History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea . .10 R. Michael Bourke Part 1 People, Land and Environment . 27 Bryant Allen and R. Michael Bourke 1.1 Total population . .28 1.2 Land use . .35 1.3 Population density . .47 1.4 Internal migration . .51 1.5 Rainfall . .56 1.6 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and food supply . .62 1.7 Temperature, cloudiness and sunshine . .68 1.8 Climate change . .71 1.9 Soils . .81 Contents iii 1.10 Landforms and altitude . .87 1.11 Agricultural environments . .95 1.12 Land quality . .101 1.13 Crops, people and the environment . .107 1.14 Access to markets and services . .116 1.15 Geographical information systems . .121 Part 2 Food Production, Consumption and Imports . .129 R. Michael Bourke, John Gibson, Alan Quartermain, Kate Barclay, Bryant Allen and Jean Kennedy 2.1 Food in Papua New Guinea: an overview . .130 2.2 Staple food crop production . .138 2.3 Genetic diversity of food crops . .145 2.4 Food crop yields . .147 2.5 Rice production . .168 2.6 Animal production . .173 2.7 Rice and wheat imports . .179 2.8 Fruit and vegetable imports . .183 2.9 Meat imports . .185 2.10 Fish imports . .188 Part 3 Village Food Production Systems . .193 R. Michael Bourke and Bryant Allen 3.1 Staple food crops . .194 3.2 Vegetables . .201 3.3 Fruit . .208 3.4 Nuts . .215 3.5 Stimulants . .223 3.6 Intensification of agriculture . .230 3.7 Soil fertility maintenance techniques . .232 3.8 Fallowing . .235 3.9 Soil retention and benching . .242 3.10 Tree planting and legume rotations . .245 iv Contents 3.11 Tillage, mounds, beds and green manuring . .251 3.12 Other agricultural techniques . .260 Part 4 The Broader Economy . .271 Andrew McGregor and R. Michael Bourke 4.1 The macro-economic environment . .272 4.2 Consumer price index . .275 4.3 Prices of selected items . .278 4.4 Pay fortnight food market and retail cycles . .281 Part 5 Cash Income from Agriculture . .283 Matthew Allen, R. Michael Bourke and Andrew McGregor 5.1 Rural villagers’ cash income . .284 5.2 Cash cropping in Papua New Guinea: an overview . .292 5.3 Domestically marketed food . .300 5.4 Coffee . .306 5.5 Cocoa . .315 5.6 Copra and copra oil . .323 5.7 Oil palm . .331 5.8 Forest products . .340 5.9 Marine resources . .349 5.10 Sugar . .355 5.11 Rubber . .360 5.12 Tea . .367 5.13 Balsa . .371 5.14 Vanilla . .374 5.15 Spices and flavourings . .379 5.16 Pyrethrum . .385 5.17 Other income from plants . .389 5.18 Income from animals . ..