Research that works for developing countries and AustraliaPapua New Guinea - Country Office
Country OfficeKey indicators and performance for 2006-07 Indicator: Enhanced focus in project portfolio on improving the quality of commodities Performance: Six new projects have strong emphases on processing quality: four new forestry projects concerned with wood quality improvement; one on sweet potato marketing and postharvest handling and one targetting increasing pyrethrum content of harvested flowers. Indicator: Maintain linkages between at least three ACIAR projects and three AusAID-funded Agricultural Innovations Grant Facility (AIGF) projects Performance: ACIAR projects maintained links with AIGF projects on coffee growers/farmers production and marketing groups; management of potato late blight and on enhancing the capacity of village extension workers and farmers to improve income from horticultural crops. Indicator: Greater involvement of PNG University of Technology (UNITECH) in ACIAR’s program Performance: An ACIAR scholarship scheme has been implemented to allow PNG nationals to undertake postgraduate training in-country while linking to ACIAR projects. UNITECH is also now directly involved in six ongoing ACIAR projects. Indicator: Increased emphasis in ACIAR portfolio on sweet potato research and development, commensurate with its importance as a staple food Performance: A comprehensive portfolio of projects has been developed focusing on production and marketing of sweet potatoes, addressing pests, soil constraints, varietal selection, nutrition, marketing and post harvest technology. Indicator: Potential role of indigenous nuts in local economies defined Performance: Key issues involved in the domestication and commercialisation of indigenous nuts and fruits of PNG were examined. Nearly all the farmers interviewed indicated a desire to grow more nut trees than they currently do, in particular for the generation of income. A new project is identifying and propagating superior nut cultivars, and developing a marketing strategy. Indicator: Extent of soil fertility decline of PNG highlands quantified and suitable research and development investments to improve soil fertility implemented Performance: The extent of soil fertility decline and major constraints to production of the most important staple, sweet potato, were identified. Project initiated to investigate improved nutrient and water management options. Indicator: A major thrust to consolidate the development of inland aquaculture, with increased geographic coverage and new attention to promising indigenous species Performance: National meeting held that brought together key stakeholders in the industry to discuss opportunities. Strategic industry planning exercise will be driven by the National Fisheries Authority with technical support from ACIAR. New project on the culture of indigenous fish species underway in Western Province. Indicator: Fingerling production and supply to inland fish farmers significantly improved in quantity and quality Performance: A mid-project review was undertaken and remedial action agreed with key agencies to address problems encountered with fingerling production and project delivery at Aiyura Highlands Aquaculture Development Centre and at Erap. Indicator: Forty per cent of new projects designed to have significant farmer or policy-maker impacts within five years of completion (“Category 1”) Performance: Five out of six small research activities and two out of six new full projects are ranked as Category 1. Achievements from the 2006-07 Annual Report ACIAR’s PNG program continued to emphasise research and development within four programmatic themes:
In attempts to enhance smallholder incomes from agriculture a project has aimed to improve the marketing system for fresh produce of the highlands of PNG. It has mapped the supply chain from the Highlands to the coastal markets, and this valuable new knowledge reveals how consumers form their preferences in the formal market in PNG. The adjacent box gives a more comprehensive picture of the work. This project and others have sought ways to lift the participation of youth and women, for their own benefit and also to improve productivity of commodities such as vegetables, peanut, cocoa, coconut and oil palm. During the year progress was made in finding how to improve the capacity of research and extension services in the cocoa sector. Two public seminars held at the Cocoa and Coconut Institute (CCI) and with the Cocoa Board in East New Britain (ENB) outlined the results of smallholder socio-economic studies and proposed recommendations to improve research and extension services. For example, New Guinea Island Producers (NGIP) of New Britain is servicing smallholders in ENB by providing planting materials, tools and extension advice. Thus, rather than limiting its activities to buying cocoa, as has been the case in the past, the company is now becoming more involved in supporting smallholders to raise productivity and increase or rehabilitate the area under cocoa production. A project to facilitate farmer adoption of new management strategies among cocoa smallholder farmers through on-farm participatory action research (PAR) and village-based extension was disrupted by the discovery of the destructive Cocoa Pod Borer (CPB; Conopomorpha crameriella) in ENB. The PNG government declared a national state of emergency, resulting in a large-scale monitoring and eradication program. Despite the significant disruption caused by the CPB to this project, project activities and outcomes continued. An on-farm PAR-based approach termed Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM) is being promoted to assist the adoption of the management strategies. Initial indications suggest that many are adopting them, particularly when they see the impact of the management changes. They are also learning to keep records of yield and disease levels in their cocoa blocks. There has been a strong focus on quality improvement and marketing enhancement for peanut. Large-scale multiplication of selected varieties took place at Ramu Sugar to facilitate seed supply for on-farm trials. Eighteen trials in the Eastern Highlands, Upper and Lower Markham Valley, undertaken in collaboration with local farmer groups, evaluated new varieties and management practices on farmers’ fields. Active participation of researchers and farmer groups strengthened linkages between the two groups, and substantial yield benefits were observed from the combination of improved varieties and improved practices across all sites. The improved varieties also proved more drought-resistant. A survey conducted on the role of women in peanut production in Lower Markham Valley showed that peanut contributes 75% of total household income and women in the Lower Markham have two major roles in decision making—one relating to cropping (i.e. crop and variety, time of planting) and the other related to childcare. Women also play a major role in sourcing peanut seed, weeding, marketing and planting. Efforts to lift supply and quality of coffee have been successful. A survey of the industry from farmer producer through processor, trader, buyer and consumer yielded a wealth of information that a research team then analysed to determine margins at each stage along the marketing chain. The team found that for green bean, growers with reasonable access to traders and processors (and therefore not hindered by high transport costs) were receiving reasonable prices. The team recommended that growers in reasonable proximity sell their main crop (May to July) direct to mills as ripe cherry which would lead to a final product equal to top estate coffee. A second, lighter crop around December/January was better processed by the farmers themselves, stored at home and used like a bank account to generate funds for immediate needs. The beauty of this arrangement is its harmony with Melanesian village life. Inland aquaculture is regarded as a highly promising enterprise for villagers. In October 2002 fish farmers first received the genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT) strain of Oreochromis niloticus from the Highlands Aquaculture Development Centre at Aiyura in Eastern Highlands Province. This fish is a popular choice because of its ability to grow rapidly and produce fingerlings in earthen ponds. An ACIAR project is developing commercial and farm-made feeds for tilapia and also the giant freshwater prawn (macrobrachium) in PNG and Fiji. The project team has reviewed the suitability of available ingredients (with their content analysis and costs), assessing aspects such as reliability of supply, cost, nutritional value and consistent quality, in order to formulate optimum low-cost diets. The project nutritionist has produced a basic feeds brochure for use by aquaculture extension officers and farmers in the participating countries and other Pacific Island Countries. The PNG Feed Formula was used successfully in a miniproject involving cage trials for culture of tilapia at Yonki Reservoir in the PNG Highlands. A new ACIAR project, Increasing capacity for regional fish feed manufacture in Papua New Guinea has been developed as a result of these trials. In 2007 ACIAR has also published a monograph, Aquaculture in Papua New Guinea, outlining the issues facing the country and prospects for advancing village-based inland aquaculture. ACIAR’s strong focus on sustainable management of forestry and fisheries resources continued. One project undertook a review of portable sawmills in both PNG and Solomon Islands. Small-scale milling technology has allowed owners with rights to community forests to harvest from their own allotments, for their own purposes, in a way that was intended to maintain the resource for the long term. A project commissioned to examine current operations, define success and guide the further progress of portable mill technology sent an expert group on a two-week visit to small mills in PNG. The group concluded that problem areas were in the social, economic and regulatory fields, not in sawing technology which had been mastered quite well. Of particular concern was the poor regulation of small mill operation - mills harvesting less than 500 cubic metres per year were completely unregulated. Thus the legal position needed urgent revision. The formation of a Portable Sawmill Owners Association was recommended, for advice when recasting the regulations and to introduce some degree of self-regulation of activity. Excellent progress has been made in activities to increase the availability and use of improved germplasm for forestry and agroforestry in PNG. In its second year of operation the project has focused on a range of species including sandalwood and teak. Seed orchards and clones banks (to enable rapid vegetative propagation of desirable species) have been established. Project partner organisations, in particular the Foundation for People Community Development (FPCD), provided six village communities with training in how to establish village nurseries. Each trainer has conducted follow-up training to reinforce and evaluate the implementation and impacts of nursery skills within their respective villages. ACIAR is committed to the welfare of fisheries around PNG. Active projects include a survey of the biology and status of the prawn stocks and trawl fishery in the Gulf of Papua, and an assessment of the impact of the PNG purse seine fishery on tuna stocks. The PNG tuna fishery is the largest in the Pacific Islands region, and is based on total allowable catches allocated by species type (skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna) and gear type (purse seine and longline). Tuna stocks appear to be declining, due in part to the use of anchored fish aggregation devices (FADs). The project team is providing information on tuna population dynamics and determining how FADs impact on the fishery. Currently tuna stocks appear to be exploited at maximum levels of sustainability. PNG has a better chance of sustaining its tuna fisheries if it can encourage domestic fishing in the country’s exclusive economic zone and phase out fishing by other nations. Responsibility for managing the fishery rests with the National Fisheries Authority, and it needs a framework to determine whether or not substituting domestic activities and the consequent loss of fees from other nations will confer net benefits to the economy. As part of this strategy an ACIAR project recently completed a survey to determine the labour cost component at a domestic cannery. PNG must deal with a wide range of pests and diseases that affect both plants and animals. One particular scourge is potato late blight, which wiped out potato production in 2003. The favoured variety Sequoia is highly susceptible to the blight, and in order to keep the plants alive until maturity, the crop must be sprayed every 3 to 5 days with fungicides. Such an intensive regime may be too much for 'subsistence' farmers, who once relied on potatoes as a valuable cash crop. This situation will not change until late-blight-resistant varieties are available. An ACIAR project aims to provide a consistent and assured supply of seed potatoes of current and new varieties for the market place. It has supported tests of several potato varieties developed by the International Potato Centre in Peru (CIP) that have proved to be very resistant to the blight. A tissue culture laboratory at Aiyura is being prepared to produce high numbers of quality potato plantlets as a forerunner of blight resistant Certified Seed Potatoes. Sweet potato is the mainstay PNG's food security and accounts for 63 per cent of the dietary energy of the population. Climatic factors such as El Niño events can cause major but temporary falls in production, but aside from this farmers and scientists have noted a gradual decline in yields and the quality of tubers for no obvious reason. This decline has implications for food security and an ACIAR project is seeking solutions. The project, which aims to assemble better performing, disease-resistant germplasm, is introducing progeny-tested material from Australia or other sources. Viruses affect productivity, and the researchers are performing preliminary identification of virus and virus-like diseases. Aphids are common vectors of sweet potato viruses, and two aphid-proof tunnelhouses (igloos) have been imported - one to be used to propagate virus-free sweetpotato cuttings, the other for virus indexing. The project is profiting from advice from the International Potato Center (CIP) on virus detection and also directions for using tissue-cultured plants in heat treatment for virus removal (in-vitro thermotherapy). The weed 'mile-a-minute' (Mikania micrantha) has the capacity to smother food crops. A project is evaluating biological control through natural weed predators, based on known agents trialled or in use elsewhere. Another project is looking to control a planthopper, Eumetopina flavipes that earlier ACIAR work had identified as the vector of ramu stunt disease of sugarcane in PNG. This new research is developing an integrated pest management program for its control. At present the main pest to coffee in PNG is coffee green scale. A project researching the best means for its control has taken the work of ACIAR socioeconomic researchers into consideration, because they have provided insights into the type of pest management acceptable and sustainable by smallholder growers. This is helpful in guiding development of the project’s control packages. As well the team’s work has discovered the serious threat posed by coffee berry borer (CBB). Although not yet present it is just beyond the PNG border, and its arrival will mean that all farmers except those at the highest altitudes will have to invest more time in their crop if they are to get any sort of return from growing coffee. Efforts continued to build up PNG’s institutional and individual capacity. ACIAR finalised its project to introduce science communication in PNG. The 'SciCom' project developed an applied accredited postgraduate course in scientific communication and developed the capacity of universities and their staff to deliver and manage the courses. Three PNG universities now have accredited post-graduate courses based on the developed modules. The ACIAR Scholarship Scheme was initiated in the Department of Agriculture at Unitech at the beginning of the first semester in March 2005. Six scholars initially undertook postgraduate studies, studying topics such as the economics of peanut production, fish nutrition, fresh produce storage systems, yield decline in sweet potato, viral diseases of taro and host resistance to the sugarcane borer. A further seven scholars started postgraduate programs in March 2006, undertaking studies with peanut farmers, researching the incidence of leptospirosis in local cattle, developing sources of traditional feed for pigs and fish (tilapia), genotype x environment interactions in taro, studies of vesicular streak disease of cocoa and virus detection in sweet potatoes. In the process of providing support for these scholars, a postgraduate computer laboratory was established and research funds supplied which permitted some upgrading of existing research facilities in the Department. In addition, all graduating scholars gained immediate employment in industries, research institutions and universities. Case Study- Advancing the vegetable trade out of the PNG Highlands Growers in the PNG Highlands region can produce an amazing variety of high-quality temperate-zone vegetables year-round. They thrive in the mild climate and rich volcanic soils, and this bounty could meet the needs of PNG’s populous coastal cities and maybe also supply overseas markets. For these reasons ACIAR commissioned a project back in 1983 that sought to find ways of developing a marketing system for Highlands produce. The project team assessed transport methods and also studied factors affecting produce shelf life. Project team members Dr Kevin Scott, from the NSW Department of Agriculture, and Garth Atkinson, a New Zealander working with the PNG Department of Primary Industry, produced an ACIAR Technical Report (No. 14) outlining prospects for developing a marketing chain from the Highlands to populated coastal areas. That project’s major achievements were to design a suitable refrigerated container and complete the testing of vegetable transport and handling from the Highlands to Port Moresby, using road containers between the Highlands and Lae, followed by ship to Port Moresby. In 2001, during a visit to PNG, ACIAR program manager Ken Menz observed that this system had been taken up commercially in Mount Hagen in the Highlands, and had been operating for a number of years without government support. It was a major supply channel, competing with air freight and non-refrigerated surface transport. Aware of this success, the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) (a government instrumentality) wanted to encourage more operators into the business, but it was not simply a matter of slotting them in. The marketing system needed a holistic appraisal from the viewpoints of all its stakeholders before it was ready to expand. Thus, in 2003 ACIAR commissioned another project, led by Professor John Spriggs of the University of Canberra. This time the research focused on socioeconomic change, involving all the people along the chain. The project's major aim was to help the stakeholders—representatives from along the supply chain including farmers, wholesalers, community associations, supermarkets, transporters, government agencies and researchers—come to the best decisions with regard to marketing Highlands fresh produce. Through a process known as 'critical action research' stakeholders had opportunities to learn from the results of research conducted by the project team. They were also encouraged to contribute at project workshops and to become directly involved in the action plans drawn up for marketing system development and further research. It became evident that there was a strong call to develop the physical infrastructure for marketing fresh produce. The stakeholders strongly supported the establishment of consolidation depots in the major highland centres of Goroka and Mount Hagen, served by satellite district depots in the surrounding production regions, and efforts have begun to put these in place. Attention is also being given to developing a quality-management system for the produce. Village extension workers performed a valuable role. These are full-time farmers who act as conduits of technical and market information from the FPDA and other sources to farmers, and also relay production information from the farmers back to the FPDA. This process opened the eyes of farmers to the reality of markets previously unknown to them. The marketing trials have also opened up opportunities that should lead to more young people staying on the land. They may also attract new people into farming to commence productive use of their land, and give existing farmers a reason to expand production. |
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