A bridge too far? The influence of socio-cultural values on the adaptation responses of smallholders to a devastating pest outbreak in cocoa

The influence of socio-cultural factors on the adaptive capacity, resilience and trade-offs in decision-making of households and communities is receiving growing scholarly attention. In many partly transformed societies, where the market economy is not well developed, livelihood practices are heavily structured by kinship and indigenous social and economic values. Farm investment decisions and incentives to produce agricultural commodities are shaped by a host of considerations in addition to market imperatives like profit. In one such partly transformed society in East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, we examine the adaptation decisions of smallholders in response to the drastic drop of yield in their cocoa plots caused by the sudden outbreak of Cocoa Pod Borer. To explain why the impact of the pest has been so great we examine the interconnections between household responses, the local socio-cultural and economic context of smallholder commodity crop production and the wider institutional environment in which household choices and decisions are made. We argue that the significant lifestyle changes and labour intensive farming methods required for the effective control of Cocoa Pod Borer are incompatible with existing smallholder farming systems, values and livelihoods. To adopt a high input cropping system requires more than a technical fix and some training; it also requires abandoning a 'way of life' that provides status, identity and a moral order, and which is therefore highly resistant to change. The paper highlights the enduring influence and significance of local, culturally-specific beliefs and socio-economic values and their influence on how individuals and communities make adaptation decisions

Divided communities and contested landscapes: Mobility, development and shifting identities in migrant destination sites in Papua New Guinea

Internal conflicts at the local and national levels in several South Pacific countries have revealed the fragility of national unity and the difficulties nations face in governing and managing their own economic development. In Papua New Guinea, the focus of this paper, an uncertain economic future for many rural and urban communities, and rising inequalities in income opportunities and access to resources, have coincided with greater intolerance of migrants at sites of high in-migration by customary landowners and provincial and local authorities. This paper draws on fieldwork undertaken in the major oil palm growing regions of Papua New Guinea where migrants from densely populated regions of the country have settled on state land alienated from customary landowners. We examine how struggles over land, resource control and development are polarising migrant and landowner identities resulting in increasing tensions and episodic communal violence. A settler identity is emerging based on a narrative of nation building and national development, while an ethno-regional identity amongst customary landowners is undermining the citizen rights of migrants and challenging the role and authority of the state in land matters

Reluctant subjects or passive resistance? A commentary on J. K. Gibson-Graham's "Surplus possibilities: Postdevelopment and community economies"

A commentary on J.K. Gibson-Graham's "Surplus possibilities: Postdevelopment and community economies

The Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Papua New Guinea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Patellofemoral osteoarthritis (PF OA) is more prevalent than previously thought and contributes to patient's suffering from knee OA. Synthesis of prevalence data can provide estimates of the burden of PF OA

Changing Generational Values and New Masculinities Amongst Smallholder Export Cash Crop Producers in Papua New Guinea

This article is concerned with changing generational values and aspirations and intergenerational conflicts among migrant farmers in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. Drawing on fieldwork amongst oil palm smallholders, the paper begins by documenting how economic pressures and a conjunction of social changes are leading younger men to challenge indigenous relations of authority and obligation that underpin father-son relationships. Rising material aspirations and revised social and economic values structured by kinship are driving this challenge by young men and making it more difficult for fathers to draw on their sons’ ‘unpaid’ labour. We then describe how these challenges are enacted through demands on fathers for new relations of production that give sons more power and control over the management of the oil palm block and the distribution of the income. These demands by an aspiring generation of young men are often contested fiercely by fathers who see such demands as weakening their authority and eroding their socio-political role in daily decision-making. We illustrate how the contemporary and highly commodified environment of migrant lives has redefined father-son relationships and forms of sociality, and contributed to intergenerational conflicts and the adoption by sons of new male identities and masculinities

Migration, informal urban settlements and non-market land transactions: A case study of Wewak, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea

This paper examines the various ways in which migrant settlers have gained and maintained access to land in the informal urban settlements of Wewak, the provincial capital of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Urban population growth in PNG and in Pacific Island states more generally is predicted to grow rapidly over the next two decades. Given the limited availability of formal housing for lower income people, it is likely that many will live in informal urban settlements on land owned by customary landowners. To date, there is very little information on how migrants living in informal settlements obtain and maintain access to land to erect dwellings and pursue livelihoods. Drawing on field research carried out in seven informal settlements in Wewak, the paper describes the historical, trading and/or marital ties between landowners and the original settler community. The discussion focuses on how access rights are maintained and have changed over time as the social and exchange relationships deteriorate between second-generation urban migrants and younger-generation landowners. The weakening of the social relationships between these two groups undermines the long-term use rights of migrants. By examining the changing tenure security of second-generation migrants the paper shows that whilst informal land markets perform an important role in housing provision for the urban poor they often fail to deliver long-term tenure security. The paper finishes with a brief consideration of the implications of the research findings for guiding policies on urban land reform and planning on customary land in PNG