The Pacific Livelihoods Research group has recently completed a four-year study, titled: “Identifying the opportunities and constraints on rural women’s engagement in small-scale agricultural enterprises in PNG”. The project examined the factors shaping rural women’s participation in small-scale agricultural enterprises.
In this paper, we present four case studies of technology adoption and rejection from different parts of the developing world. We explore how different socio-cultural and agro‐ecological contexts shape smallholders’ decisions relating to the adoption of new technologies. We illustrate how socio-cultural, institutional and environmental factors influence adoption and show the value of examining proposed innovations and technologies in terms of their capacity to undermine or strengthen indigenous socio-cultural values as a way of understanding potential points of resistance or pathways to adoption.
Female Extension Officers in Papua New Guinea
There is a long tradition of providing agricultural extension and training in PNG, and several reviews and reports have assessed the effectiveness of extension in the country. Few studies however, have considered female agricultural extension officers or ways to improve the participation of female farmers in extension. A recent report by Matilda Hamago outlines the experiences of female extension officers working in the major export cash crop sectors of coffee, oil palm and cocoa.
PNG’s Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd has recently recommenced the publication of the PNG Coffee Journal, after a break of ten years. The recently published special issue, Vol 15(1), is the first of two comprising research papers based largely on collaborative ACIAR-funded research projects among CIC, Curtin University and CSIRO.
The rise of reselling in PNG’s marketplaces
Today, in some marketplaces in the major urban centres such as Port Moresby and Mt. Hagen, resellers now make up the majority of vendors. And in the main markets in Lae, Kimbe and Kokopo resellers are now a prominent group. The rise of intermediaries, or middlemen has been entangled with other changes…
Women’s empowerment pathways in PNG
Women’s empowerment is a key focus of development in the Pacific and around the world. Accumulation and control of assets can open pathways for women to broader changes, and increase women’s agency in other spheres of their lives, but assets should not be imagined as an end in themselves…
In this series we will be posting a number of questions to our past students about their research projects. Susan May works with the National Agricultural Research Institute…
From the Field – Jennifer McKellar
PhD Student, Jennifer McKellar, recently returned from a scoping trip to Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, where she will undertake fieldwork examining women’s economic empowerment in coffee farming communities…
In this series we will be posing a number of questions to our past students about their research projects. Matilda Hamago works as the Training Course Coordinator with the Papua New Guinea Coffee Industry Corporation…
In this series we will be posing a number of questions to our past students about their research projects. Emmanuel Germis is a socioeconomic researcher…
In this series we will be posing a number of questions to our past students about their research projects. Reuben Sengere is a socio-economist…
Improving livelihoods of smallholder coffee communities in PNG – Series – #1
Coffee is the second largest agricultural export in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and employs around 2.5 million people. It is grown in 17 of the country’s 22 provinces, with over 85% produced by smallholders. It is the primary source of household income for many highland communities…
Photo essay: Change and continuity in Papua New Guinea’s Marketplaces
As places to buy, sell and socialise, marketplaces are a part of daily life for many Papua New Guineans…
Rising rice consumption amongst oil palm smallholders…
The high level of rice consumption in West New Britain Province (WNBP), Papua New Guinea is more than just a change…
Papua New Guinean women in agribusiness
Women are central to family livelihoods and wellbeing in rural PNG. They produce the bulk of subsistence food crops, provide a large proportion of the labour for production…
In the months of May and June, 2017, I was afforded the opportunity by the New Colombo Plan (NCP) to travel to Papua New Guinea to conduct fieldwork for my honours year research with Curtin University’s Geography Department and the Pacific Livelihoods Research Group…
The betel nut trade in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is big business. In betel nut marketplaces, money is said to ‘flow’ and to ‘overflow’. It is also highly visible…
Strengthening livelihoods for food security amongst oil palm and cocoa farming communities in PNG
Food gardening is a central part of the livelihoods of rural….
Pacific Livelihoods 