Increasing vegetable production in Central Province, Papua New Guinea to supply Port Moresby Markets

Vegetables have been an integral part of the diet of Papua New Guinea (PNG) communities for thousands of years, based around subsistence gardening. Urbanisation and changes in demographics offer opportunities for the development of viable commercial vegetable production and marketing enterprises. As such, this project’s aim was to develop efficient and effective value chains in PNG’s Central Province that were based on sound use of natural resources, to meet growing demand for fresh vegetables in Port Moresby.

The project utilised a number of research methodologies to engage communities, to research and understand the socio-economic context of each one, and to identify their training needs. These methodologies simultaneously worked to identify which vegetable crops held potential to be commercially grown to supply the markets, and to improve understanding of soil characteristics and limitations to identify potential crop growing locations and types. Training in basic crop agronomy, business and banking was carried out for both women and their daughters, and for men and their sons, as well as for staff of various PNG organisations.

The project also produced a significant number of publications and captured a substantial body of knowledge that will be of benefit for wider use in future projects. It also provided a model of engagement with participants in the production of vegetables and their delivery to consumers through improved value chain function, and provided guidance on infrastructure development to support the value chain.

A number of methodologies and approaches were utilised throughout the course of the project:

• Rapid Value Chain Analysis (RVCA) to identify which vegetables provide potential commercial opportunities
• Appreciative Inquiry (AI), to provide socio-economic insights, effective community engagement practices and identify training needs
• Biophysical research, which included land resource assessment, evaluation of candidate crop cultivars at different locations of varying elevations, and a comparison between traditional, improved and intensive production systems in the regions of Laloki and Sogeri

• Field work was complemented with a genome and controlled environment study of broccoli adaptation at the University of Tasmania

• Value Chain Analysis was also used as a basis of work on developing improved value chains supported by demonstrations of production of candidate crops at villages in various locations

Potentially commercially valuable cultivars were identified for Tapini and for coastal lowlands at Laloki and Koiari Park, with less definitive results for Sogeri.

The production system trials indicated that traditional and improved systems produced similar results, but the highly intensive approach to production was less fruitful. However, these trials had only short durations, and need to be continued for many years for comprehensive and reliable results.

Socio-economic research was particularly successful, and saw the development of understanding around the nature, function and needs of a community, and the importance of collaborative, team-oriented approaches to the introduction of new agricultural practices and marketing. There were some clear successes in train-the-trainer activities, evident in various community members who shared their newly acquired knowledge with their villages.

Establishment of improved value chains proved to be difficult, for reasons beyond the control of the project. However, critical issues along the value chain were identified and will provide guidance for future activities.

The final report for the project is available via ACIAR here.

• Palaniappan, G., Chambers, B., Bonney, L., Simeon, L., Hopa, S. and Birch, C. 2011 Building social resilience through understanding capacities of smallholder farming in Papua New Guinea.
• World Congress on Conservation Agriculture and Farming Systems Design Conference, Brisbane 26-30 September 2011  Palanappian, G., Bonney, L., Chambers, B. and Birch, C. 2011. Chain members perception of vegetable value chains in Papua New Guinea (PNG) p38 in Scott, J. (Ed) Research Development and Extension in the Vegetable Centre: sustaining vegetable production in vegetable and allied industries in Tasmania., Proceedings of the 2011 Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research Vegetable Centre Industry Communication Forum, 14th July 2011, Longford, Tasmania. University of Tasmania, Hobart.
• Palaniappan, G, Chambers, B,  Simeon, L. Bonney, L,  Hopa, S, and Birch, C. 2011.Small Scale Vegetable Gardens to Local Markets – A Case Study from PNG. Horticulture for the Future. APHC/AuSHS/NZIAHS Joint Conference, Lorne, Vic. 18-22 September 2011.
• Palaniappan, G., Birch, C., Chambers, B. and Bonney, L. 2011 Strengthening local vegetable production in Papua New Guinea using value chain analysis. Farming Matters Magazine (online). Available here. Immediate Past Project (2011).