Papua New Guinea - Achievements

1. Overview
2. Country Strategy
3. Priorities
4. Key Program Managers
5. Current Projects
6. Concluded Projects
7. Achievements
8. Relevant Publications
9. Country News and Stories
10. Project Locations
11. Country Office
12. Country Portfolio
13. AusAid and Other Briefs
14. Fellowship Statistics

Achievements

Key indicators and performance for 2008-09

Indicator: Social, cultural and technical constraints to increasing smallholder productivity and income in the oil palm and cocoa sectors identified, and promising technologies disseminated

Performance: Three ongoing projects focus on increasing smallholder returns from oil palm and cocoa production; introducing improvements in smallholder crop husbandry skills and integrated management of natural resources, pests and diseases; and promotion of commercial sector partnerships with smallholders.

Indicator: Introduction of high-value species to smallholders for efficient and sustainable production of timber in forestry and agroforestry systems in at least one province

Performance: High-value species including teak have been introduced into traditional agroforestry systems, and teak seedlings distributed in response to strong demand from communities in the Markham and Ramu valleys, Madang province. 

Indicator: Development and dissemination of improved feeding strategies and completion of training programs to increase farmer skills in pond husbandry in village-based aquaculture in at least two districts

Performance: Fish husbandry skills were improved for cooperator farms in Morobe and Eastern Highlands provinces through training workshops held in Southern and Eastern Highlands provinces with 295 participants, with a particular focus on women farmers. 

Indicator: Initial strategies developed to reduce threat of coffee berry borer and impact of cocoa pod borer on smallholder farmers

Performance: A strategy to contain and mitigate the threat of coffee berry borer, not yet found in Papua New Guinea (PNG), has been developed, focusing on raising awareness and preparedness while promoting integrated pest management practices. A strategy for cocoa pod borer, already established in PNG, emphasises training farmers in integrated control practices while raising community and industry awareness to slow pest spread.

Indicator: Technologies developed to increase sweetpotato crop yield through appropriate management of soil and nutrients

Performance: Farmer evaluation and multiplication of sweetpotato varieties on the northern coast of PNG and the management of soil fertility in sweetpotato-based cropping systems of the highlands have provided appropriate technologies to increase productivity by efficient management of soil and nutrients. 

Indicator: Direct linkages between at least three AusAID-funded Agricultural Research and Development Support Facility (ARDSF) projects and ACIAR research outputs

Performance: At least 40% of new projects designed to have significant farmer or policymaker impacts within 5 years of completion

Indicator: Three of five projects under design or which commenced in PNG in 2008–09 are designed to have immediate impact.

Achievements from the 2008-09 Annual Report

Subprogram 1: Addressing social, cultural and policy constraints to the adoption of agricultural technologies

Subsistence farmers in PNG and the Pacific islands are vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and climate extremes (floods and droughts). The ability of PNG to respond to these challenges will be influenced by local, institutional and national organisations having an early warning system based on seasonal climate forecasts. Building local capacity in use of this technology is seen as a major step towards meeting the challenges of climate variability. For example, coffee production can fluctuate widely due to drier or wetter conditions associated with the El Niño and La Niña phenomena. Understanding the impacts of climate on PNG’s agriculture, and the ability to predict these events with sufficient lead time for government and farmers to take remedial action and adapt to a changing climate, is the subject of a project retrieving long-term rainfall data for PNG. This is being used to determine the relationship between rainfall data and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). A key component of the research involves investigating the utility of drought warning tools to help maintain food security (sweetpotato) and farm income (coffee). Good-quality monthly rainfall data were assessed for 10 stations with a length of record between 52 and 106 years. These data were used in SCOPIC (for seasonal climate outlook for Pacific island countries) software for analysis of drought and to determine seasonal climate forecasts based on key ENSO indices.

Government policies, and the quality and reach of institutions (especially those that underpin market transactions and property rights) play a key role in shaping the incentives for primary producers to adopt outputs of technical research. While ACIAR has previously included studies on policy issues in its portfolio, it is now embarking on a more concerted effort to look at the effect of policy on the probability of its projects having favourable impacts. A project is identifying strategies to help PNG deal with situations where the policy and institutional environment hinders the adoption of new technologies, or diminishes the benefits of adoption. The project team has developed its information base by researching the past portfolio of ACIAR projects in PNG, referring to adoption studies, impact assessments, working papers, project annual and final reports as far back as the late 1980s. This detailed information set is helping to identify and assess a range of relevant policy, institutional and economic factors that may affect project impact. A deeper assessment, through examination of a smaller set of projects, of how economic, policy and institutional factors affect adoption and impact has begun.

PNG has substantial stocks of tuna within its Exclusive Economic Zone, some of which have been exploited by foreign fishing vessels paying access fees in exchange for fishing rights. PNG has adopted a policy of domestication of its tuna fishery, which involves encouraging domestic longline vessels and expanding the proportion of the purse seine catch taken by locally based vessels supplying domestic canneries. Further development of the tuna fishery will take the form of a change in the balance between the longline and purse seine fisheries, or a change in the allocation of the purse seine catch. As locally based purse seiners displace the purse seine fleets of distant water fishing nations, access fees paid by the latter will decline. Domestic fishing must generate, at least, corresponding benefits for the host nation. A possible income source exists through foreign companies that have expressed interest in setting up tuna processing operations in PNG.

Staff members of the National Fisheries Authority need help in developing and applying a method to analyse the economic benefits and costs to PNG of competing cannery proposals, a situation common to a number of countries in the Pacific islands region. The project developed a benefit–cost model for application to proposals for domestic development of the tuna industry, quantifying the range of benefits and costs to the host country from a domestic tuna cannery. Since the model also measures the net benefit to a foreign firm proposing investing in a cannery, under a range of possible financial arrangements, it can be used as a tool in negotiating any tax or similar concessions requested by the firm. PNG staff had full involvement in both the survey work at the cannery and development of the model, equipping them with the skills to apply the model to new proposals.

Subprogram 2: Enhancement of smallholder incomes from horticulture and root crops

Sweetpotato is an important food staple in PNG, with a suite of projects underway to lift productivity. A project to improve marketing efficiency, postharvest management and value addition of sweetpotato began by mapping the social, economic and physical components of sweetpotato supply chains. The project’s economic and technical teams worked together to develop an interdisciplinary approach to supply chain analysis. On the economic side, the project team conducted interviews with the various participants in the supply chain from the highlands to coastal markets. On the physical side, the team carried out consignment trials across three different supply chains to determine where major losses were occurring and where intervention was warranted. On the social side, focus groups for women were conducted in Western Highlands and Eastern Highlands provinces, discussing gender division of labour, income distribution and problems encountered by women farmers in relation to sweetpotato marketing.

The potential for improving productivity of sweetpotato-based systems by addressing soil fertility as a major factor in yield decline has been demonstrated in an earlier study. Follow-on research is assessing and quantifying soil and water processes in highland soils, working with farmers to develop and implement improved nutrient and water management options for sweetpotato-based cropping systems (with a focus on existing indigenous soil management systems), and enhancing PNG’s soil research capacity. One facet of the research has been a comparative nutrient analysis of different kinds of sweetpotato grown in the local village gardens. Growth trials took place at field sites in Eastern Highlands, Simbu and Western Highlands provinces. The treatments applied investigated a range of tillage methods (large mounds, small mounds and beds), coupled with mulch application and composting using different plant material, both burnt and unburnt. Useful information on tuber yields and quality parameters affected by the various treatments are being investigated to find promising technologies to increase productivity and quality of sweetpotato.

The decline in sweetpotato yields is also due to a combination of pests, diseases and physiological factors. A project to introduce an integrated pest management (IPM) approach is helping to reduce pest and disease losses. During the past year the project has made some significant achievements. Prior to its commencement there was little scientific evidence to support the assumption that the sweetpotato yield decline phenomenon could be caused by viruses and virus complexes. The project has now identified four yield-limiting viruses in PNG. Investigations are also underway to determine if there may be virus interactions causing further yield reductions. Skills in virus indexing combined with serological virus testing have developed considerably in both PNG and Australia. PNG successfully tested 24 varieties for virus using Ipomoea setosa grafting and confirmation by ELISA testing. This improvement in diagnostic capability in both PNG and Australia will improve the soundness of disease identifications and better assist in inter-country germplasm exchange.

Subprogram 3: Improving smallholder returns from export tree crop production and marketing

Changes in coffee production have created a widely held perception that the quality of PNG coffee has fallen and, as a result, the price of PNG coffee has declined relative to the world price. A suite of projects is working to address several significant issues, including a shift from larger estate production to smallholder production. A project has focused on identifying smallholder strategies to improve coffee quality at the community level. Three possible strategies to improve the quality of coffee produced by smallholders have been investigated: encouraging the sale of red ripe cherry direct to the wet mills; adopting standardised processing systems at the village level; and pursuing Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Organic and/or Utz Certified accreditation. Of these strategies, the sale of cherry results not only in a 34% price premium but entails significantly less work and costs for the growers. Where smallholder coffee farmers are unable to sell cherry to wet mills, standardised processing systems must be introduced at the village level. In this instance price incentives would be best achieved through the formation of collaborative marketing groups that transact directly with traders and exporters. This would also be the best arrangement for pursuing accreditation under the Fair Trade and Organic markets.

In July 2008 the Coffee Industry Corporation reported an oribius weevil epidemic on coffee in Chimbu province. Should such an epidemic spread to other districts and provinces, it has the potential to severely impact the PNG coffee industry. Research to stem the weevil’s migration and find ways to combat the pest is underway. The project team found low levels of the weevil and damage from sucking bugs. It suggested that the ‘outbreak’ was likely to have been a combination of greater identification stemming from enhanced public awareness, resulting in greater recognition, and generally elevated pest populations due to atypical climatic patterns (especially a wetter ‘dry’ season). Permanent, structured monitoring to track pest populations and damage levels on coffee in Chimbu and neighbouring provinces for the 2008–09 coffee seasons was recommended. If damaging pest levels do not occur in 2009, no further action beyond low-level permanent surveillance would be needed.

The incidence of coffee green scales (CGS), which can cause up to 10% loss in coffee yields, was determined via major surveys in Eastern Highlands province in 2006–07. Subsequent analysis of this study showed that CGS infestations were highest at 1,500 m altitude—both above and below this, infestations were much lower. Both human-mediated and natural pathways appear to be involved in CGS spread. Nurseries grow and supply seedlings that happen to be infested with CGS, and simple sanitation could make clean plants available to farmers. However, another common route is via infested farms where farmers propagate their own seedlings. With the natural spread possibly being mediated via exotic invasive ants, both ecological and anthropogenic issues need to be resolved, and a scoping study has addressed farmer practices, awareness and extension. An additional study determined that excluding ants reduces CGS infestation rates over time.

A project is seeking 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. A core component of the project is to implement innovative payment systems for productivity-enhancing inputs that accommodate the socio-cultural context of smallholder production. For example, work at Bialla with oil palm has introduced a mobile card payment scheme that guarantees payment of family and hired labour for work on smallholder oil palm blocks. The payment initiative was developed and trialled successfully in an earlier ACIAR project. In addition, a draft Clan Land Usage Agreement has been developed after extensive consultation with the Oil Palm Industry Corporation, customary landowners and migrant smallholders growing oil palm on customary land in Bialla, Hoskins and Popondetta.

Symptoms of magnesium (Mg) deficiency are widespread on volcanic ash soils where oil palm is grown in West New Britain. However, application of soluble Mg fertilisers such as kieserite had failed to significantly increase yields. Field trials were conducted to gain a better understanding of this problem. The effectiveness of Mg fertilisers with different solubility and application methods were tested. As potassium (K) is known to compete with Mg uptake, the project was broadened to include research on K. Valuable information has been obtained from this research on Mg and K dynamics in soil, spatial distribution of root activity and uptake of these nutrients under different soils. This information has been used by the plantation companies to reassess fertiliser recommendations to overcome nutrient deficiencies and increase the productivity of oil palm.

Subprogram 4: New livelihoods from smallholder fisheries, aquaculture and forestry

Efforts are underway to improve fingerling supply and fish nutrition for smallholder farms adopting inland aquaculture in PNG. A total of 1,460 smallholder farmers have received training in various aspects of pond culture of the commonly used tilapia and carp. A number of small feed mills have been installed and are operating in the Eastern Highlands and Morobe provinces. There is good potential to use these mini-mills for poultry feeds as well as fish feeds. A rehabilitation program based on fish farming has been initiated for prisoners at Bihute Prison. The program was well regarded and there is acknowledged potential for the scheme to be used as a model for the PNG prison system.

Everywhere in PNG tree-growing and management of trees are incorporated into both traditional and modern farming systems. Commercial tree-growing appears a good prospect for landowners with limited income-generation alternatives. A project is working to encourage the adoption of commercial-scale high-value tree growing in PNG, developed through a relationship fostered between landowners and selected business partners. Fieldwork in three project pilot study regions has found that the land-use systems, and landowner experience of commercial tree growing, vary significantly between the three regions. Some landowners in the North Coast and Golgol Valley regions around Madang have participated in growing Acacia mangium for export; a smaller number in the Markham and Ramu valleys are at an earlier stage of growing trees with commercial potential; in Western province the only landowners that have engaged in commercial tree growing are those participating in rubber cultivation in various forms of partnership facilitated by North Fly Rubber Ltd. Preliminary results from Western province fieldwork have assisted the project team to develop a draft assessment of possible commercial tree-growing activities and associated business models.

Past ACIAR research established the feasibility of domesticating and commercialising the canarium nut in PNG. The nut is currently used for food but supply falls well below demand. A new project is now building on those findings, seeking to ensure sufficient supply of Canarium indicum and establish a reliable marketing network. The project is working to select cultivars that produce nuts regularly and fruit heavily to close the demand gap. Robust nursery propagation techniques using low-cost systems suitable for community and village uptake are being established to help create a more regular supply of high-quality fresh nuts as a basis for development of a marketing network.

The project has made substantial progress in both vegetative propagation and genetic resource exploration/characterisation. A breakthrough was achieved in vegetative propagation of juvenile material, with success rates now above 90% for the best treatment combinations. Success is attributed largely to use of higher quality stock plants, and research on stock-plant management is continuing. Marcotting (air-layering) of superior adult canarium trees is being used as a way to capture their genotypes for future multiplication. Although canarium is difficult to marcot, success rates have been sufficiently high to permit capture of the genotypes of superior adult trees. Another project is developing protocols for the processing and storage of canarium nuts. The project participants, with experience in the macadamia industry, have already developed a modified macadamia nut cracker that is effective for canarium and is attracting interest within the PNG industry.

Fuelwood is a crucial but undeveloped component of the domestic economy of PNG. Fuelwood plantations could directly enhance smallholder income and provide a pathway for rehabilitating grasslands. A project is establishing a national fuelwood economy based on woodlots and agroforestry systems. Project activities in 2008–09 focused principally on fieldwork in the three project pilot study regions in Morobe, Madang and Western provinces to investigate landowner attitudes to tree growing as part of their farming systems. Development of village-level nursery systems and the delivery to landowners of seedlings of commercial species raised in other nurseries is underway with landowners in the Markham and Ramu valleys.

PNG enjoys some significant competitive advantages in relation to the production of timber; however, a challenge remains in the management of secondary forests. Smallholder agroforestry plantings and community-based management offer significant potential to address this challenge. This industry could become a much larger contributor to the national economy than the current log export industry if coupled with a significant domestic processing industry. A project is providing the foundation for a more extensive and more sophisticated domestic timber processing industry in PNG. It is exploring the development of various products and designs based on solid wood and veneers, examining the potential for value chains to integrate advanced processing with production of timber in smallholder agroforestry systems and community-managed secondary forests, and enhancing capacity in timber processing training, education and R&D.

Subprogram 5: Agricultural biosecurity and sustainable management of forestry and fisheries resources

There is an ongoing problem of poor reporting of animal diseases in PNG, where veterinary or allied animal health resources are limited, livestock production is often at smallholder or subsistence levels, and infrastructure is limited. A project is developing systems that are sustainable, are simple to operate, provide a basic set of animal population data, and are capable of estimating the impacts of disease on the production system. Templates of two reporting tools were developed for pigs and chickens, which are the most prolific livestock kept in the project sites and underpin the village livestock food and income streams. These templates, developed and revised after initial use at the project sites, enable village livestock owners to record information on chicken and pig populations, reproductive rates and end uses of the livestock, including sale at market or family food production. The templates also record syndromes of skin, intestinal, respiratory and nervous diseases.

A concern for crops in PNG is Ramu stunt disease of sugarcane, for which the island sugarcane plant hopper Eumetopina flavipes is the only known vector. Fortunately, this disease does not occur in Australia, but virus-free populations of this plant hopper occur in the Torres Strait Islands (TSI) and northern peninsula area (NPA) of Queensland. A research team has worked to develop an integrated management program for E. flavipes in commercial sugarcane plantations at Ramu Sugar Ltd (where Ramu stunt disease continues to impact upon production) and to gain a detailed understanding of the population ecology of E. flavipes populations throughout PNG and TSI/NPA. There are now recommendations on pre-emptive management of E. flavipes in TSI/NPA via cultivation techniques such as simultaneous tip pruning. However, in PNG, due to the widespread distribution and persistence of the pest across multiple wild and cultivated hosts, management effort should be more focused on dealing with Ramu stunt disease—via planting new, resistant varieties and vigilant surveillance for new disease outbreaks.

Cocoa pod borer (CPB) is having a devastating impact on the livelihoods of smallholder cocoa growers in East New Britain, with almost 90% of production lost in some areas. A project team undertook a social and economic impact assessment of CPB in May 2009 as part of developing a strategy to address the problem. Controlling CPB requires farmers to raise inputs of labour to undertake CPB management techniques such as weekly harvesting (every mature pod), centralised pod breaking and pod burial. High levels of block management (pruning, shade control and weed control) are also needed. This is the opposite of the usual low labour input system of production (the foraging strategy) employed by PNG farmers. The project is working with commercial sector partners to deliver new forms of extension designed to mobilise labour for effective control of CPB. Promising results from the monitoring program are emerging, with some farmers switching to a high-input system and effectively controlling CPB.

The log export industry in PNG contributed K476 million (K = kina - PNG currency) to the national economy in 2005, but its current level of harvesting is unsustainable. Accessible primary forest is likely to be logged out in the next 15 years. Properly managed, however, PNG’s forest resources could continue to make a major, sustainable contribution to the PNG economy while maintaining many of the qualities that PNG society values from its forests. ACIAR’s forestry strategy for PNG, developed in collaboration with PNG colleagues, is designed to promote a positive vision for PNG forestry. This project, a key element of the strategy, aims to improve the contribution that PNG’s secondary forests make to both its national and local economies. Collated, checked and cleaned data has been collected from 120 permanent sample plots measured repeatedly between 1992 and 2008. The improved database is now complete and ready for analysis as part of the development of new growth models for cut-over forest in PNG.

Research continued in four provinces in PNG to investigate the efficacy of various fruit fly management strategies. These have been completed and the results are now being collated for analysis. The results of these trials will provide useful information regarding the effectiveness of management strategies such as protein baiting, male annihilation technique, fruit bagging and local pesticide use in each location and crop. An economic analysis based on a single farm case study is determining if the level of control achieved from the management strategies provides benefits that outweigh the cost of the technologies themselves. This will inform recommendations to further develop the supply chain for these technologies, which are currently not commercially available.

Other projects

The ACIAR Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme for PNG University of Technology (Unitech) commenced in 2005 and is now into Stage 3 of support; currently, there are six ACIAR scholars undertaking postgraduate diploma training in 2009, three ACIAR scholars have been accepted for MSc training in 2010 and three more scholars for PhD training in 2010. Students' research projects have been linked with active ACIAR projects in PNG.

The smallholder broiler chicken industry produces about six million birds per year with a value of A$54 million. Reducing feed costs, the main constraint to profitability, is the subject of a project investigating best-bet feeding options for feeding broiler chickens in highland and lowland regions of PNG. Evaluations of options were conducted at non-government organisation (NGO) demonstration sites using a concentrate system developed by the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The diets found to be the most suitable for growing meat birds were; 50% sweetpotato + 50% low-energy concentrate; 70% sweetpotato + 30% low-energy concentrate; and 50% cassava + 50% high-energy concentrate. The three NGO partners compared the diets in broiler grow-out trials in the highlands, the lowlands and in remote Western province, obtaining such promising results that each has now selected 20 village farmers to test their respective best performing concentrate feeding system against the current broiler feeding system that uses commercial feed. The project also established that there are good prospects for a mini-mill to produce chicken feeds based on local ingredients.

An ACIAR project to improve yield and economic viability of peanut production in PNG and Australia has documented the critical role of peanuts in PNG farming systems. High-yielding peanut germplasm lines from the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics were introduced and evaluated in multi-location trials in PNG, leading to the identification of promising varieties with potential to yield 50–100% greater than the local varieties. These new varieties are being transferred, with associated management technologies, to smallholders. This is enhancing the markets for, and marketability of, new peanut varieties in PNG. The project also assisted farmers affected during the Oro province natural disaster, supplying 0.6 tonnes (t) of seed for the restoration program.

Fourteen 'seed village' trials conducted in the Upper and Lower Markham Valley regions, Eastern Highlands province, showed that productivity of dryland peanut can be increased from the existing 1 /ha to 4 t/ha by using local or new varieties and adopting a set of improved practices. The research outcomes have led to publication of a best management practice manual for growing peanuts in PNG, published as ACIAR monograph No. 134.

Pyrethrum—PNG’s resurgent industry

When the pyrethrum daisy plant was introduced into PNG in the late 1950s it formed a major highland industry—employing as many as 80,000 people by the late 1980s. It is the source of pyrethrum, an in-demand insecticide with benign properties that make it desirable for use in insect sprays, pet shampoos and home gardening products. The PNG growers sold their local product to a processing factory and the factory owners handled the marketing. Closure of this factory ended the local market and curtailed the industry.

Now a Tasmanian pesticide manufacturer has come to the aid of the women in PNG whose livelihoods were affected by the closure of the industry. Botanical Resources Australia (BRA) has offered to buy the PNG crop and help recommercialise the industry. Despite conducting research in Australia, BRA had little experience of research for development, and certainly not in PNG. ACIAR was well placed to bridge the gap—a project was developed and commenced in 2007. To date, BRA has helped improve the Enga province processing factory and refurbished its laboratory.

Better planting materials and improved agronomic practices, along with research into the adoption of improved production and plant physiological factors, are essential requisites for the project’s success. Janet Yando, who has been appointed Extension and Promotion Officer for the project, speaks of her involvement:

‘I mostly work with local farmers, particularly pyrethrum growers in several communities. My task is to encourage farmers, mostly women and youth groups, to increase production. I conduct informal training sessions on their farm sites to show them better ways of planting the crop, better management practices, and the right time to pick.’

‘But 45% of my time each week is spent at the resource centre, working on clonal selection plots, density trial plots and other tasks. I work with the agronomist from NARI to improve planting materials for the farmers. Then I pass on information on the results of our work to the farmers during the field visits.’

Meanwhile, BRA has hosted a visit of five key PNG officers to its Tasmanian factory. Mr Brian Chung, manager of product development at BRA, states that while the company’s involvement in a development aid project was somewhat unexpected, BRA has now found its stride. ‘It became obvious we had the skills and technology to make substantial improvements,’ he says. ‘So we intend to be in for the long run.’