Improving productivity and the participation of youth and women in the Papua New Guinea cocoa, coconut and oil palm industries

• Cocoa and Coconut Research Institute, Papua New Guinea
• Oil Palm Research Association, Papua New Guinea
• PNG Cocoa & Coconut Extension Agency, Papua New Guinea

Earlier ACIAR-funded research had promoted interventions in the smallholder oil palm sector of Papua New Guinea (PNG), including the increased participation of women in the industry through the 'lus frut mama' card scheme that led to significant increases in smallholder productivity. This project aimed to replicate such achievements in the PNG smallholder cocoa and coconut sectors. Researchers conducted an in-depth evaluation of a promising new payment system (also arising from the earlier ACIAR project) for oil palm smallholders at Hoskins, West New Britain and sought to further adapt it for other smallholder oil palm regions and for the smallholder cocoa sector in PNG. The project was designed to promote the sharing of knowledge and expertise between the key smallholder extension agencies and research organisations in the three industries.

Key constraints on smallholder productivity were labour shortages in both crops and poor block maintenance, especially in cocoa; the non-payment or under-payment of family and hired labour was a key factor limiting the supply of labour. In oil palm this had been addressed through the 'Mobile Card' trial at Hoskins (ASEM/1999/084) which involved paying family and hired labour a portion of the harvested fruit and thereby circumventing the problem of payment uncertainty associated with cash payments for labour. That trial was evaluated as part of this project, and a second payment trial that ran for 23 months to December 2007 was undertaken amongst Bialla growers.
By guaranteeing payment of labour, disincentives to the mobilisation of family and hired labour were reduced. At Hoskins, monthly production rose from 75% of the smallholder average to 113% during months when Mobile Card labour was deployed. Productivity and incomes rose on 90% of trial blocks with 30% improving by more than 50 percentage points. Similar results were obtained in the Bialla trial.
It was found that the age of a cocoa stand is a determinant of its condition - including vegetation structure, degree of shading and pest and disease levels. With little or no pruning and shade control, and virtually no management of pests and diseases, block condition is largely a function of its age. Until about 7 or 8 years of age there is some grass slashing and harvesting groups tend to be relatively large, comprising both men and women following a dry cocoa bean production strategy. Beyond this age, pest and disease levels are high and accessibility for harvesting declines. Growers switch from a 'farming' to a 'foraging' production strategy, consisting of very low labour inputs (mainly women) making brief harvesting forays to collect small quantities of crop for sale as wet bean to pay for immediate consumption needs.

The project began working with the commercial sector to deliver extension and farm inputs funded by deductions from growers' payments. A follow-on project, ASEM/2006/127, is extending this to include a Mobile Card payment mechanism to mobilise smallholder labour for cocoa maintenance tasks and to address the cocoa pod borer (CPB) problem.