Livelihood and land-use choices of Papua New Guinean landowners, and implications for decisions relevant to commercial tree growing
Creators: name: Mulung, Kulala
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: HD1122.Z63 M85 2012
subject: Land use, Rural Papua New Guinea
subject: Tree farms Papua New Guinea
subject: Agricultural development projects Papua New Guinea
subject: Papua New Guinea Economic conditions

description: This study explores the basis on which Papua New Guinean landowners make land- and resource-use choices, and considers the implications of these for the adoption of commercial tree growing. Theoretical insights from the Hierarchical Needs Theory, Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, and Farmer Adoption-Decision Framework enabled development of a conceptual model, the 'PNG Landowner Decision Environment'. This model was used to assess landowners' attitudes and behaviour relevant to the use of household assets, engagement in subsistence and cash-income generating activities, patterns of exchanges and consumption, and allocation of labour, land and financial resources, to understand their choices in land- and resource-use decisions. The primary research question was: On what basis do Papua New Guinea landowners make land-and-resource-use choices? This was investigated through two subsidiary questions: - What are landowner households' livelihood strategies? - How do these strategies influence landowner households' land- and resource- use choices? Field research was carried out over an 18-month period from late 2007 to early 2009, at four case study sites; in the Upper Ramu region of Madang Province; in the Upper Markham Valley region of Morobe Province; in the Middle Fly region of Western Province; and in the Gogol, Naru and North Coast region of Madang Province. Participant observation and individual and group interviews were the main research methods employed. In total, 268 participants, comprising 175 men and 93 women, representing 175 households were interviewed, A strong interrelationship was evident between the motivational factors of landowners and their land- and resources-use choices. Key factors were their needs and aspirations, the livelihood strategies and outcomes, their knowledge and skill base, the institutional systems and processes within which the landowners operated, and their capital assets. PNG landowners' attitudes and behaviour in relation to adoption choices are largely consistent with those of smallholder farmers elsewhere, with the level of participation and involvement in particular activities influenced by personal preferences and values, and by the imperative of satisfying their basic needs. Landowners' decisions focused on three time horizons: the immediate future, principally in terms of food production; annual or similar cycles, principally in relation to recurring cash requirements; and the much longer-term, which was associated with intermittent cash requirements and had significant legacy dimensions. Decisions about commercial tree growing options need to be linked to these considerations, and to the different planning horizons that PNG landowners pursue for various livelihood outcomes.