Papua New Guinea: Critical Development Constraints


Book Description

Papua New Guinea's economic growth has outpaced the majority of economies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific since 2007. Its development challenges, however, remain daunting, and it lags behind other countries in the region in terms of per capita income and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This raises the question of how the country can make its economic growth high, sustained, inclusive, and broad-based to more effectively improve its population's welfare. This report identifies the critical constraints to these objectives and discusses policy options to help overcome such constraints.













Food Security for Papua New Guinea


Book Description

People have adequate food security when households have the capacity to access sufficient food at all times, either through self-production or through market purchases. Overall, food security is high in PNG as most rural people have access to land and can grow most of their food requirements. The food security situation is considerably better in PNG now than it was before the Pacific war. This is because high-yield staple crops have been adopted and people have access to cash income that can be used to purchase food. The adoption of new staple crops provided a once-off benefit, however, this phase is now ending in PNG. This proceedings contains the 120 papers presented at the Papua New Guinea Food and Nutrition 2000 Conference held at the PNG University of Technology in Lae from 26-30 June 2000.




Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea


Book Description

Agriculture dominates the rural economy of Papua New Guinea (PNG). More than five million rural dwellers (80% of the population) earn a living from subsistence agriculture and selling crops in domestic and international markets. Many aspects of agriculture in PNG are described in this data-rich book. Topics include agricultural environments in which crops are grown; production of food crops, cash crops and animals; land use; soils; demography; migration; the macro-economic environment; gender issues; governance of agricultural institutions; and transport. The history of agriculture over the 50 000 years that PNG has been occupied by humans is summarised. Much of the information presented is not readily available within PNG. The book contains results of many new analyses, including a food budget for the entire nation. The text is supported by 165 tables and 215 maps and figures.




Soil Fertility in Sweetpotato-based Cropping Systems in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea


Book Description

High population growth is a problem in most developing countries, and projections for many countries are that the increased demand for food will outstrip the capacity of the land to produce that food. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has high population growth, however the area under agricultural production has remained stable, and land use has intensified. There is a trend towards more continuous cropping systems that is linked to high population densities--as the population increases, the demand for food and cash crops increases. Thus, the need to identify promising management practices to expand both food and cash crops, while sustaining soil fertility, is becoming increasingly important for PNG. This report summarises the results from a pilot study on soil fertility management, and reviews sweetpotato-based cropping systems in the highlands of PNG. It also describes the lessons learnt from survey methodologies used to assess the socioeconomic and biophysical constraints to sweetpotato production in this area. Case studies from similar surveys done in Nigeria and northern New South Wales, Australia, are included as examples.




Fencing in AIDS


Book Description

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. In this vitally important book, medical anthropologist Holly Wardlow takes readers through a ten-year history of the AIDS epidemic in Tari, Papua New Guinea, focusing on the political and economic factors that make women vulnerable to HIV and on their experiences with antiretroviral therapy. Alive with the women’s stories about being trafficked to gold mines, resisting polygynous marriages, and struggling to be perceived as morally upright, Fencing in AIDS demonstrates that being female shapes every aspect of the AIDS epidemic. Offering crucial insights into the anthropologies of mining, ethics, and gender, this is essential reading for scholars and professionals addressing the global AIDS crisis today.