Development of a sustainable, community-based essential oil industry in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea using the region's woody-plant species

• North Queensland Essential Oils Co-operative Association Ltd, Australia
• University of New South Wales, Australia
• University of Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea
• Papua New Guinea Forest Authority, Papua New Guinea
• James Cook University, Australia
• G R Davis Pty Ltd, Australia
• Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Australia

In 1994 CSIRO's Australian Tree Seed Centre assisted villagers in PNG's Western Province to start production of essential oils from a local tree. The oil used is similar in its chemistry and potential medical uses to eucalyptus or tea tree oil. It has a ready market locally, and other villages have taken up production.
The fledgling oil extraction industry is poised to become a more valuable village-based enterprise. Such cash-generating activities are sorely needed in remote Western Province. Previous attempts to generate cash - such as rubber, rice, deer and crocodile farming - have foundered. Leaf oil production, however, is smaller in scale, community-based and, crucially, has been requested by the villagers themselves, who have heard of relatives in Irian Jaya carrying out similar activities.

The purpose of the project was to facilitate the development of a sustainable, community-based, economically viable industry for extracting volatile plant oils in Western Province, PNG.

The work comprised six subprojects. The first examined social and economic perspectives. The second and third subprojects concentrated on natural resources, surveying the woody plants of the area and their distribution, and studying management techniques that optimise oil yields without affecting ecological balance.
The fourth subproject studied oil production and supply methods, which included building stills and training locals in their operation. The fifth subproject focused on marketing and training and involved collaboration with the AusAID-funded Western Province Coastal Zone Management Project.
The sixth subproject determined optimum silvicultural methods for tea tree oil production in northern Queensland, and included a genetic study of the tea tree Melaleuca alternifolia for breeding.

Project scientists overcame enormous difficulties to achieve significant progress. They showed that oil of acceptable commercial quality could be produced from local raw materials. There were significant areas to source raw materials but the distances could be quite far for manual transport to villages. Researchers identified three species with commercial oil producing potential. The villagers preferred to harvest Asteromyrtus symphyocarpa as the yield is double that of Melaleuca quinquenervia. In addition, sandalwood was identified in the region, and its oil found to be high quality. A subspecies of M. cajuputi (ssp. platyphylla) contained oil high in platyphyllol - a compound with potential as a sunscreen and also known to have insecticidal properties.
The project assessed the sustainability aspects of village-based essential oil production. Researchers studied social issues, assessed resources and analysed environmental, economic, technical and information dissemination factors. Attempts to form management committees for oil production met with mixed success, as increasing returns from oil sales exacerbated long-term clan rivalry. Further input from a socio-economist is required to indicate directions for conflict resolution.
Mapping of the extent of resources of the prime oil-producing species using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with ground verification and collection of quantitative data brought mixed results, due to the difficulty in securing a cloud-free satellite scene.
In 2000, research plots of A. symphyocarpa were established to help identify best practice for sustainable harvesting of this species for oil. Results indicated that a light harvesting regime is the most appropriate for long-term sustainability. Fire damage could be a problem.
Technical aspects of oil production were addressed, with the upgrading of all stills. A marketing study concluded that a bulk oil market (for distribution and sale within PNG) could achieve economic sustainability for this industry. A meeting of oil producers in October 2001 voted unanimously to adopt this proposal, which largely replaced the existing trade in small bottles of oil. Medicinal oil distilled from A. symphyocarpa is now being marketed in pharmacies in PNG under its local name of Waria-Waria oil.
In northern Queensland nutrition trials for M. alternifolia were established in November 2000; optimum levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were identified, resulting in a 50% increase in growth over controls for the highest application. Trials undertaken to investigate other essential oil species as an alternative to M. alternifolia revealed that nerolidol-rich M. quinquenervia and the lemon-scented Eucalyptus staigeriana were good candidates for further work.
A study of the extent and effect of selfing (self pollinated trees) in controlled crosses (without emasculation) of M. alternifolia gave immediate benefit to an Australian Tea Tree Breeding Project, which now has the DNA technology to fingerprint clones, eliminate 'rogues' from the breeding arboreta and identify in progeny trials 'selfs' that usually have reduced growth.