'Our land is our life', says Billy (pseudonym), clan leader in Ohu village in Papua New Guinea. Billy, like 250 million farmers in tropical countries, relies on his garden for his daily food and income. These farmers produce a large part of the food for the developing world, the place where most undernourished people live.
Nowadays the population in many tropical countries is growing rapidly. So farmers should produce more food. However, there is limited land available to expand farms. And many farmers are seeing their yields declining rather than increasing due to climate change. So the question is how can these small farmers best adapt their farming practices so they can produce enough food to feed the growing population, but in a way that is sustainable? We have been working with farmers like Billy to figure out exactly this.
Days start early in Ohu village in Madang, Papua New Guinea. By six o’clock people are up and dressed. Some are poking in the fire and roasting sweetpotatoes, some are filling up bags with vegetables and betel nut, and some are cleaning and sharpening their knives. A big day awaits them all. A day in which they need to go to their garden to tend their crops and harvest some for tonight’s dinner, go to the market to earn some money and go to the forest to collect the last bits and pieces for finishing building their house.
But not all is well in Papua New Guinea at the moment. The population is growing rapidly, from 2.2 million people in 1966 to 8.1 million people in 2016. Weather patterns are also changing with sudden rains during the dry season and dry spells during the rainy season. This is impacting Papua New Guinea. People are seeing their yields are declining: they used to harvest taro as big as a coconut, but now it is only as big as their fist. Some farmers resort to cutting down the remaining forest so they have more space to develop their farms. But these forests are also home to many plant and animal species, such as birds of paradise, orchids and tree kangaroos.
In a research project called the Kaukau Projek (kaukau is Tok Pisin for sweetpotato), we are trying to find ways so farmers in Papua New Guinea can increase their yields in their food gardens. The hope is that we can make better use of land that is cultivated so people can produce enough food to feed their families while also keeping the rainforest.
We have made progress. People in Papua New Guinea shared some of their land with us so we could set-up experimental gardens. In these gardens we are testing the effect of different agricultural techniques such as using compost, chicken manure and NPK fertilisers on the yield of sweetpotato. We are also monitoring the diseases on the sweetpotato tubers.
But it is not only about finding technical solutions. Farmers in Papua New Guinea already have a lot of work to complete every day. So the question is what farming practices fit best into their busy schedules? And what do they see as their challenges and opportunities? To get a better understanding of these things we interviewed many of the local farmers and discussed their food, farms and forests with them.
Papua New Guinea was one of the cradles of farming. Some of the world’s staple foods were first domesticated here. Farmers like Billy have always played an important role in providing food and looking after the forests. Hopefully the Kaukau Projek can help them in continuing to do so.
This project was conducted in collaboration with the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre in Papua New Guinea, a NGO that specialises in conservation and biological research.
Contact
Email: mirjam.hazenbosch@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Twitter: @m_hazenbosch