Papua New Guinea

Achievements

Key indicators and performance for 2009-2010

Indicator: Technologies developed to enhance smallholder livelihoods from sweetpotato through increased crop yields, appropriate management of soil and nutrients, and improved postharvest handling and marketing

Performance: On-farm sweetpotato trials in the PNG highlands have shown that tuber yield could be doubled (15–30 t/ha) through integrated soil, crop residue, water and nutrient management practices. Results are being evaluated for development of management practices most appropriate for local agroecological and socioeconomic conditions and cultural practices.
Sweetpotato planting material of some varieties that were heat-treated to remove virus infection have offered significantly higher yield in field trials than virus-infected material.
A workshop in January 2010 identified constraints to participation of women in sweetpotato supply chains, and solutions constraining supply-chain effectiveness. A workshop in June 2010 reviewed issues with sweetpotato quality and their amelioration.

Indicator: Technology innovation demonstrated for export tree crops that enhance crop yields and improve postharvest handling and marketing within a sociocultural context that reduces constraints to adoption and improves smallholder livelihoods

Performance: Socioeconomic studies in progress by Curtin University are improving understanding of how new technologies of oil palm are taken up, and designing interventions to overcome impediments.

Indicator: New coffee project scoped to assess the socioeconomic constraints to technology adoption and management of the natural resource base

Performance: Implementation commenced with a workshop in early February 2010. Sites were chosen and the first work plan developed.

Indicator: Initiatives commenced to secure and promote the availability of high-quality teak germplasm for smallholder plantings and increased involvement in projects of agroforestry-focused NGOs

Performance: A project is underway with the aim of developing a national germplasm distribution system.
Teak seeds of superior Thai germplasm are now being imported for propagation and distribution.
Many communities are now enthusiastically planting teak.
Several NGOs are now involved in forestry projects in PNG, e.g. Village Development Trust; Foundation for People and Community Development; People’s Action for Rural Development; Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement; Pacific Projects.

Indicator: Strategic approach developed to guide the expansion of inland aquaculture in PNG, and quantities and reliable availability of high-quality fingerlings significantly improved

Performance: A new large ACIAR project has commenced following extensive consultation to better coordinate inland aquaculture development. Improved coordination is being achieved through a newly formed national committee on aquaculture extension and development. Greater supply of fingerlings has resulted from expansion in several small, localised hatcheries, but expansion and better management of the government hatchery are still required.

Indicator: Direct linkages established between at least three AusAID-funded ARDSF projects, at least three Unitech scholarship projects and ACIAR research output

Performance: Five Unitech postgraduate scholarships were awarded in 2010, each with some alignment with current ACIAR work.

Achievements from the 2009-10 Annual Report

ACIAR has invested in research in PNG to remove constraints to women’s greater participation in Horticulture and facilitate the development of women’s business skills. It is also helping to advance institutional arrangements for the PNG Women in Agriculture (PNG WiA) organisation to assist in the enhancement of women’s livelihoods. In March 2010 PNG WiA held its first National Forum for around 100 participants, comprising 73 women from various agricultural groups in PNG and about 30 key partner organisations and stakeholders. Financial and practical support came via AusAID, ACIAR, the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and others. The forum endorsed a new PNG WiA strategic plan.

Another project, studying soil fertility management in the PNG highlands for sweetpotato-based cropping systems, is a component of a cluster of projects on sweetpotato implemented in PNG. Working with other projects dealing with different aspects of production, postharvest handling and marketing, has established an effective network, which will function beyond the life of the project. Trials to lift yields through increased soil fertility, mulching and composting, appropriate water management, and testing of best planting times and crop sequences have produced significant lifts in sweetpotato yields. An outreach program is now in place through events such as farmer field days. The farmers are also learning the importance of using clean, virus-free sweetpotato planting materials.

Work to develop commercial sector – smallholder partnerships for improving incomes in the oil palm and cocoa industries seeks to improve extension delivery through greater commercial sector engagement with smallholders, and to develop effective land-use agreements between the commercial sector and customary landowners. In the cocoa industry the cocoa pod borer (CPB) is having a devastating impact on the livelihoods of smallholder growers in East New Britain province, with almost 90% loss of production in areas with high CPB infestation rates. Farmers can manage CPB but they must shift from the low-labour input system of smallholder production to a high-labour input system involving weekly harvesting, regular pruning, shade control and other new practices. Over the past year project staff have worked with an exporting company, NGIP-Agmark, on new extension strategies to help farmers change to high-input farming. This extension strategy has worked and those who have adopted the new system are achieving much higher yields.

Research to improve the profitability of village broiler production has found that a diet of sweetpotato plus a low-energy concentrate was suitable for broilers raised in the highlands, while in the lowlands the birds fared better on a diet of cassava with a high-energy concentrate. Year 3 of the project has involved trials to demonstrate the feeding system to village poultry farmers, and the performance of broilers was excellent in all the village farm trials. Birds have reached market weight soon after 5 weeks of age, and the sweetpotato-based diet has compared very favourably with the commercial control diets. Most of the village farmers involved with the trials want to continue using the concentrate mixed with sweetpotato or cassava, and other broiler farmers not involved in the trials are keen to try the diets.

PNG has a need to increase capacity of livestock husbandry and disease management advice. The increasing trend towards a cash economy to fund improvements in living standards and school fees for many livestock owners is placing a greater dependence on livestock for income generation rather than providing food for family or village sustenance. A project is developing reporting systems and tools for livestock owners to assess management options for endemic and emerging livestock diseases of pigs and poultry at four sites in PNG. One site on the island of New Britain includes villages that were depopulated of chickens to control a Newcastle disease outbreak in 2006. Data collected from this site using reporting tools introduced in the project, has demonstrated no return of high mortality, and has therefore confirmed the success of the program for eradication of the disease.

Farming fish in ponds is a growing industry in inland areas of PNG. Research has focused on improving the supply of fingerlings to farms, and securing brood-stock and breeding lines at Aiyura in Eastern Highlands province. Farm-based feeds and husbandry for smallholder fish farmers were examined to try to find optimal approaches. Quality assurance principles were used as the scientists sought to develop a fish-husbandry package. By the end of the project the number of active farms had increased from 5,400 to more than 15,000. The farm-gate value of the aquaculture industry increased from kina (K) 5 million in 2005 to K20 million in 2008. A spin-off of the project is a team-initiated rehabilitation program based on fish farming for prisoners at Bihute Prison, which is now so well regarded that a request has been received to make this a model for the prison system across PNG.

Canarium indicum nuts are marketable indigenous products with great potential to improve the livelihoods of rural households in the South Pacific. There is strong consumer demand and acceptance of the product in PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, but a major constraint to its commercialisation has been quality of the nuts due to poor postharvest handling and processing techniques. A project to develop better techniques that optimise quality while being appropriate for small-scale agriculture has taken advantage of expertise and experience in the Australian macadamia industry. The result has been better processing, with reduced cracking of the kernels by drying the nuts before shelling. The project has also adapted a macadamia nutcracker to suit the canarium nut. The European Union has now funded a pilot processing plant to follow on from the ACIAR work.

Rising demand for higher value food products, particularly in large and expanding urban areas such as Port Moresby, is increasing the demand for temperate vegetables. A number of highland regions grow a range of temperate vegetables, but supply to Port Moresby is limited by poor transport infrastructure and inconsistent product quality. The major alluvial valleys of Central province have better transport infrastructure (the national road network) and are well watered, with a relatively dry season that limits disease pressure. A project commenced this year to help farmers in Central province supply the increasing demand for temperate vegetables. It will ensure that the correct vegetables are selected; appropriate land, soil and water management practices are developed; and agronomic strategies to grow high-quality produce are introduced.