“A 6-​year ACIAR-​supported project has helped many smallholder coffee farmers and their families in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) improve their livelihoods by targeting key factors impairing coffee production. 

Helping farmers improve the quality of their beans, and connecting them with buyers willing to pay a premium for quality, has boosted their incomes. The project has also engaged women more actively in coffee farming by integrating vegetable crops with coffee plantations, allowing the women to earn their own incomes. 

Professor George Curry from Curtin University in Western Australia led the ACIAR-supported project, working with partners at CSIRO and the Coffee Industry Corporation in PNG. The initial focus of the project was to improve the quality and consistency of the coffee beans being produced. Traditional coffee harvesting and processing requires very specific practices to produce high-quality coffee. But several decades of economic instability and the closure of rural mills and processors had led to a decline in coffee farming knowledge within PNG smallholder communities.” (ACIAR 2025).

The full article about the project can be read here.

References:

ACIAR. (2025). Coffee resilience: how PNG’s farmers are leading the way in sustainable coffee production. https://www.aciar.gov.au/sustainable-coffee-production-PNG

Curry, G.N., Sharp, T., Kiup, E., Thomas, M., Tilden, G., Aroga, L., Koczberski, G., Hamago, M., Togonave, P., Kaugam, M., Sengere, R., Kumie, T. and Aranka, J. (2024). Improving Livelihoods of Smallholder Coffee Communities in Papua New Guinea. Final Report for ASEM/2016/100. Report Number: FR2024-028. ISBN 978-1-9232261-16-7. Canberra: ACIAR.