PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 3:34 PM by Luigi

Estimates of Food Crop Production in PNG

Bourke, R.M. and Vlassak, V. (2004). Estimates of Food Crop Production in Papua New Guinea. Land Management Group, The Australian National University, Canberra.

This fascinating paper by the Australian National University's Land Management Group is now available on the web as a pdf. The summary is reproduced below.

Summary

Estimates of the quantity of food produced in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are important for planning and research. Information contained in the Mapping Agricultural Systems of PNG database of the proportion of land devoted to various food crops allows new estimates to be made. To calculate annual production for each staple crop, estimates of the proportion of garden area devoted to each crop for each agricultural system were combined with census data on the rural population in 2000 (4.3 million rural villagers), mean garden area planted per person per year and mean crop yield for that environment. These data allow estimates to be made for banana, cassava, coconut, potato, Queensland arrowroot, rice, sago, sweet potato, and various taro and yam species.

Total annual staple crop production is estimated as 4.5 million tonnes (1050 kg/person/year), with an energy value of 4.3 × 1012 kilocalories (2770 kcal/person/day). It would require an additional 1.2 million tonnes per year of imported rice to replace the energy value of these staple foods, with a retail value of K2850 million. Sweet potato accounts for almost two-thirds (64%) of production of staple food crops by weight and 63% by food energy. No other staple in PNG contributes more than 10% by weight or food energy. The contribution by weight for the more important foods is: banana (9.7%), cassava (6.0%), yam (6.0%), Chinese taro (Xanthosoma) (5.0%), Colocasia taro (5.0%), coconut (2.2%) and sago (1.8%). The proportions of food energy produced by these crops are similar to their values for weight. Sago, coconut and rice are exceptions; their proportions of food energy are greater than their contribution by weight. The significance of the various staples varies between provinces in the lowlands, but sweet potato dominates production in the highlands.

An independent check of the production figures is made by calculating the energy in the food grown in representative agricultural systems and for all provinces. The energy needs from staple foods of the human population are compared with the available energy. Estimates of production and human needs are very similar for lowland agricultural systems and for provinces where most systems are in the lowlands. For highland provinces, production is 47% greater on average than the estimated human requirements. This is expected and consistent with the large domestic pig populations which are fed significant amounts of sweet potato.

These figures suggest that about one third of all sweet potato tubers are fed to pigs in the central highland valleys, or about one quarter of all sweet potato production in PNG. Average sweet potato production per person for all PNG is 670 kg/year, with about 500 kg of this produced for people and the remainder for pig consumption.

The figures generated here are compared with estimates made as part of the Survey of Indigenous Agriculture conducted in 1961–1962, with data generated from the 1996 PNG Household Survey, and with figures published annually by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The most important difference between the surveys is that the new estimate for sweet potato production is more than twice that made in the first two surveys. A major change over the past 40 years has been the increased significance of crops of New World origin, that is, cassava, potato, sweet potato and Chinese taro. In contrast, production of staple crops of Asia-Pacific origin (banana, sago, taro and yam) has either decreased or is similar in magnitude to that of 40 years ago.



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Estimates of Food Crop Production in Papua New Guinea. Land Management Group, The Australian National University, Canberra. This fascinating paper by the Australian National University's Land Management Group is now available on the web as a pdf. The summary is reproduced below. Summary Estimates of the quantity of food produced in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are important for planning and research. Information contained in the Mapping Agricultural Systems of PNG database of the proportion of land devoted to various food crops allows new estimates to be made. To calculate annual production for each staple crop, estimates of the proportion of garden area devoted to each crop for each agricultural system were combined with census data on the rural population in 2000 (4.3 million rural villagers), mean garden area planted per person per year and mean crop yield for that environment. These data allow estimates to be made for banana, cassava, coconut, potato, Queensland arrowroot, rice, sago, sweet potato, and various taro and yam species. Total annual staple crop production is estimated as 4.5 million tonnes (1050 kg/person/year), with an energy value of 4.3 × 1012 kilocalories (2770 kcal/person/day). It would require an additional 1.2 million tonnes per year of imported rice to replace the energy value of these staple foods, with a retail value of K2850 million. Sweet potato accounts for almost two-thirds (64%) of production of staple food crops by weight and 63% by food energy. No other staple in PNG contributes more than 10% by weight or food energy. The contribution by weight for the more important foods is: banana (9.7%), cassava (6.0%), yam (6.0%), Chinese taro (Xanthosoma) (5.0%), Colocasia taro (5.0%), coconut (2.2%) and sago (1.8%). The proportions of food energy produced by these crops are similar to their values for weight. Sago, coconut and rice are exceptions; their proportions of food energy are greater than their contribution by weight. The significance of the various staples varies between provinces in the lowlands, but sweet potato dominates production in the highlands. An independent check of the production figures is made by calculating the energy in the food grown in representative agricultural systems and for all provinces. The energy needs from staple foods of the human population are compared with the available energy. Estimates of production and human needs are very similar for lowland agricultural systems and for provinces where most systems are in the lowlands. For highland provinces, production is 47% greater on average than the estimated human requirements. This is expected and consistent with the large domestic pig populations which are fed significant amounts of sweet potato. These figures suggest that about one third of all sweet potato tubers are fed to pigs in the central highland valleys, or about one quarter of all sweet potato production in PNG. Average sweet potato production per person for all PNG is 670 kg/year, with about 500 kg of this produced for people and the remainder for pig consumption. The figures generated here are compared with estimates made as part of the Survey of Indigenous Agriculture conducted in 1961–1962, with data generated from the 1996 PNG Household Survey, and with figures published annually by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The most important difference between the surveys is that the new estimate for sweet potato production is more than twice that made in the first two surveys. A major change over the past 40 years has been the increased significance of crops of New World origin, that is, cassava, potato, sweet potato and Chinese taro. In contrast, production of staple crops of Asia-Pacific origin (banana, sago, taro and yam) has either decreased or is similar in magnitude to that of 40 years ago. * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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