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History of Agriculture in Papua New Guinea

The history of agriculture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) spans approximately 10,000 years, beginning with early human settlement around 50,000 years ago and the introduction of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Significant developments occurred with the arrival of Austronesian-speaking peoples around 3,500 years ago, who brought new domesticated crops and animals. The document also discusses the impact of European exploration from the late 1400s to 1870, which facilitated the transfer of various crops and agricultural practices globally.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
24 views17 pages

History of Agriculture in Papua New Guinea

The history of agriculture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) spans approximately 10,000 years, beginning with early human settlement around 50,000 years ago and the introduction of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Significant developments occurred with the arrival of Austronesian-speaking peoples around 3,500 years ago, who brought new domesticated crops and animals. The document also discusses the impact of European exploration from the late 1400s to 1870, which facilitated the transfer of various crops and agricultural practices globally.

Uploaded by

stephaniekoim2
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea

R. Michael Bourke

sweet potato about 300 years ago; permanent settle-


Introduction ment by Europeans and other outsiders, with many
introductions of plants and animals after 1870; and
the period of rapid social and economic change that
The history of agriculture in PNG is about 10 000 commenced about 70 years ago in 1940.
years old. This history is reviewed here in the context
of 50 000 years of human occupation of the Australia
– New Guinea region. 1 More is known about what The peopling of New Guinea
has happened nearer to the present, especially since
1870, than about the distant past. Much of the early
history (prehistory) of PNG was unknown until When the first humans came to New Guinea about
about 50 years ago, but since 1959 there has been 50 000 years ago the climate was very different
a lot of research on the prehistory of PNG, with a from now. Worldwide, temperatures were lower,
major focus on agriculture. However, this is a rapidly the polar ice caps were larger, glaciers were more
evolving field of study and our understanding of common, and sea levels were lower. As a result, the
the history of agriculture in PNG is still incomplete. South-East Asia mainland extended as far east as
The information that is summarised here will be Bali and Borneo to form a landmass that is known
expanded and modified by future research. as Sunda. The Asian mainland (Sunda) and New
Historical evidence is reviewed in a number of Guinea were always separated by ocean but, at that
periods: the arrival of humans in New Guinea some time, New Guinea was not an island, but formed the
50 000 years ago; the beginnings of agriculture about northern part of a large continent that also included
10 000 years ago; the appearance of Austronesian- Australia and Tasmania, known as Sahul (Figure 1).
speaking people from island South-East Asia The Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands
about 3500 years ago, bringing with them more chain have always been separated from the Sahul
domesticated crops and animals; 2 the introduction of continent by ocean.
The world climate started to warm from about
18 000 years ago. The sea level began to rise from
1 Prehistorians do not agree how long humans have the melting of ice caps and glaciers and the tree
occupied the Sahul continent (Australia, New Guinea line became higher. The extensive low-lying plains
and Tasmania). The figure of 50 000 years used here is a between New Guinea and Australia were flooded. By
compromise between the shorter time period of about
10 000 years ago, only a narrow strip of land linked
45 000 years argued by some scholars and the longer
southern New Guinea with the Australian mainland.
one of 50 000–60 000 years argued by others.
Around 8500 years ago this land bridge was broken
2 See box on page 11 for a definition of domestication.

10 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


when Torres Strait became flooded and the northern By 28 000 years ago there were people on what is now
part of the great Sahul continent became the island of Buka Island, at that time the northern end of a single
New Guinea, with a coastline similar to the present. island that included most of the Solomon Islands.
The trip from New Ireland to Buka required some
The first people to settle the Sahul continent are
time at sea without view of the target land. Manus
likely to have come in small groups. They would have
was settled by at least 20 000 years ago. Colonisation
made scattered landings on the coastline following
of Manus involved an open sea crossing of more
earlier movements from the Asian mainland via
than 200 km, of which 75 km would have been out of
the eastern islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
sight of land. Human settlement in the Pacific islands
Following the initial colonisation, human settlement
extended as far as the end of the Solomon Islands
spread to different parts of what is now PNG.
until about 3500 years ago.
People probably reached the islands of New Britain
and New Ireland by 40 000 years ago, soon after
the initial colonisation of the Sahul mainland.

Definitions of terms

Archaeology. The scientific study of a Papua. This is a confusing term as it has a


prehistoric culture by excavation and number of meanings. Papuan languages are a
description of its remains. group of related languages spoken mainly on the
island of New Guinea, but also by some groups
Bismarck Archipelago. The islands of Manus,
in New Britain, New Ireland, the Solomon chain
New Ireland and New Britain and smaller
and the Timor and Halmahera areas of east
nearby islands, north-east of mainland PNG.
Indonesia. Papua is the current name of the
Domestication. The process whereby people Indonesian province that occupies the western
transform a wild plant or animal population half of the island of New Guinea. It is also the
into one with more desirable characteristics, name of the former Australian colony, now
usually with an edible product such as a grain, known as the Southern Region of PNG; and
tuber, fruit or nut (in the case of plants). This is thus it has been incorporated into the name for
done by selection and propagation of plants or the nation of Papua New Guinea.
animals with the desired characteristic.
Prehistory. The history of humans in the period
Glacier. A river of ice. Small glaciers still exist at before events were recorded in documents,
high altitudes in west New Guinea (Indonesian known mainly through archaeological research.
Papua), although these are disappearing as the
Solomon Islands. A chain of islands lying
climate warms (see Section 1.8). There were a
south-east of New Britain, extending from Buka
number of glaciers in the mountains of east New
to San Cristobal. The two larger north-west
Guinea up to about 18 000 years ago.
islands (Buka and Bougainville) lie in PNG; the
New Guinea. The second largest island in the others in the political state of Solomon Islands.
world (after Greenland), lying just south of The term is used here in a geographic rather
the equator. It is split into two national units. than political sense.
The eastern half is part of Papua New Guinea,
Tree line. The distance above sea level, or
an independent nation, while the western half
altitude, above which trees do not grow because
(west of 141° E longitude) is the Indonesian
the temperature is too low. In PNG at present
province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya.
the tree line is around 3800 m above sea level.
The term New Guinea is used here to refer to the
island, not to a political unit.

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 11


The earliest indications of human activity in the Around 3500 years ago a group of people came to
mountains of New Guinea are thought to be 35 000 the New Guinea area. They were pottery-making
years old and are evidence of disturbance of the agriculturalists and possessed what archaeologists
vegetation by burning. This may have been caused by call the ‘Lapita culture’, named after a style of pottery
hunting and exploitation of seasonal foods, especially that they made. Over the next 500 years ‘Lapita’
pandanus nuts, rather than long-term occupation. people moved beyond the limit of previous settle-
From about 18 000 years ago, as the climate became ment at the end of the Solomon Islands and reached
warmer, the vegetation in the highlands changed and New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. They spoke
there was greater use of the highland valleys by people. languages known as Austronesian, which may have
originated in Taiwan. These languages are now found

Figure 1 The Sunda and Sahul landmasses at about 50 000 years ago when people first came to Sahul .
Note: Some modern islands were connected to the two large landmasses and others, such as New Britain, New Ireland
and the Solomon chain, were always separate . Source: Cartographic Services, ANU .

12 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


over a very large area in the Pacific, Indonesia, parts It is likely that very early people started to use trees
of mainland South-East Asia, and Madagascar in the that had, for example, larger edible nuts, and to cut
western Indian Ocean. In PNG they are much better down trees that had smaller nuts. If this was done
represented in the Bismarck Archipelago and other over a long period, the best-yielding trees will now
islands than on the New Guinea mainland, where dominate the forests where people are living. Galip
they are scattered around the coast, particularly nut (Canarium species) provides evidence for this
in the north and east. Austronesian speakers later practice. Seed remains of galip nut have been dated
spread throughout the Pacific as far as Easter Island, as early as 17 000 years ago in archaeological excava-
New Zealand and Hawaii. Some of their Polynesian tions in the middle Sepik area. They have been dated
descendents came back to settle on small islands in at 15 500 years ago on Manus, at 11 500 years ago on
the New Guinea region within the last 1000 years. Buka and 9000 years ago on New Ireland. It seems
that galip was domesticated by people on the north
The history of the New Guinea region is made up
coast of New Guinea and then introduced to the
of many movements of people and Papua New
Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands.
Guineans are heirs to a long and varied genetic,
linguistic and cultural history. Most details of the Edible nuts of one pandanus species (Pandanus
early settlement history are unknown and may antaresensis) have probably been used for about
never be known. The early colonisation of Sahul 30 000 years, and the high-altitude pandanus nut
would have been made up of small independent (P. brosimos) was possibly first used about 10 000
movements from different starting points to different years ago. The form of nut pandanus that is common
places on the coast. Similar movements would have at 1800–2600 m altitude in the highlands now
continued after initial colonisation, as illustrated by (P. julianettii) appears to have been domesticated
the transport of plants, animals and raw materials from P. brosimos, possibly about 2000 years ago (see
described below. Section 3.4). It is likely that people were domesti-
cating other plants at this time, even before they used
agriculture as we now know it. Such plants could
Subsistence for the first settlers have included marita pandanus and other nut- and
(50 000 to 10 000 years ago) fruit-bearing plants. People may also have been
exploiting wild taro plants a long time before the
beginning of agriculture: taro starch has been found
The first settlers in New Guinea and nearby islands on stone tools from Buka Island that were used as
obtained their food from hunting, fishing and long as 28 000 years ago.
gathering. The animals hunted included giant We also know that people were trading obsidian
marsupials, now extinct and possibly hunted out of (a black, glass-like stone formed in volcanoes that
existence by the migrants. The people would have was used to make sharp cutting tools) a long time
exploited local plants for food, including sago. It is ago. Obsidian from Talasea on the north coast of
probable that sago was domesticated by the selection New Britain first appeared in New Ireland about
of plants with a high content of starch in the trunk. 23 000 years ago and has been found as far away
Human populations were probably very small. as Borneo. We also know that people were moving
Stone tools, dated to some 40 000 years ago, have wild animals such as the cuscus and bandicoot
been found on terraces on the north side of the from the New Guinea mainland to the islands, with
Huon Peninsula of Morobe Province. These tools the first movement as early as 23 000 years ago.
were possibly used to thin, trim and ringbark Presumably, wild animals were transported so they
trees to assist the growth of desirable plants that could be hunted for food. The cassowary is the only
provided food or to obtain starchy food from sago or indigenous animal that has undergone some degree
cycad trees. of domestication. People hunt it and rear captured
chicks. It is not known for how long people have
done this.

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 13


The beginning of agriculture Arrival of the Austronesians
(10 000 years ago) (3500 years ago)

By 10 000 years ago the climate had warmed to The arrival of the Austronesians is associated with
modern temperature levels. It seems that people the appearance in the Bismarck Archipelago of the
started practising agriculture, at least in the New distinctive Lapita pottery and the first domesticated
Guinea area, from about 10 000 years ago. Certainly, animals – the pig, chicken and dog. The newcomers
from 7000 years ago, the evidence for agriculture were agriculturalists and brought many of their crops
is very clear. It is also likely that agriculture was with them. Some of these were of the same species
invented in the New Guinea highlands at about of plant that people had domesticated in the New
the same time as it appeared in other parts of the Guinea region. Indeed, some of these crops may
world,3 and that the development of agriculture in originally have been domesticated in New Guinea
New Guinea was independent of what happened and carried back into South-East Asia.
elsewhere. The evidence comes from a site called
Kuk in the upper Wahgi Valley in Western Highlands
Province. Extensive research at Kuk over a 30-year European exploration and transfer of
period suggests that: crops (late 1400s to 1870)
 Plants were being exploited and some cultivation
was occurring about 10 000 years ago.
Archaeological research has found features that In the late 1400s, explorers, missionaries and traders
indicate planting, digging and staking of plants, from Spain and Portugal, and later the Netherlands,
and possibly localised swamp drainage. Taro France and England, moved and settled around
starch found on stone tools excavated at Kuk that the globe. They took plants and domestic animals
are about 10 000 years old suggests that taro was from one region and introduced them to other
being planted at Kuk at this time. regions. Many of these plants became important
economically in the new places. The production
 A network of small island beds and associated of important food and cash crops is now often
basins had been constructed by 7000 years greater in locations distant from where the crops
ago, so that water-tolerant plants could be were initially domesticated. For example, the most
cultivated in the basins and those requiring drier important palm oil-producing area is now South-
conditions could be planted on the island beds. East Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand), but
 Banana was intensively cultivated from 7000 oil palm was domesticated in West Africa. Similarly,
years ago. wheat was domesticated in the Middle East, but the
main wheat-exporting nations are now the United
 From 4500 to 5000 years ago, swamp gardens
States, Canada, Australia, France and Argentina.
were drained by straight line ditches dug at
Sweet potato was domesticated by people in the
right angles to each other that drained into
American tropics, but today the major sweet potato-
large channels.
producing country is China. Sweet potato is now the
most important staple food for people in the western
Pacific (Solomon Islands, PNG and Indonesian
Papua) and production has expanded greatly in that
region in the last 60 years.
This major transfer of plant materials around the
3 Apart from PNG, other centres of early agriculture world by European explorers and colonists, which
were the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East and the has had such a large impact on global agricultural
Yangtze and Yellow river basins of central China, with production, occurred in the western Pacific later
dates of 11 000 and 9 000 years ago respectively.

14 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


than elsewhere. Europeans and other travellers
Table 1 Proportion of villagers who consider five
made sporadic contact with Papua New Guineans
crops of American origin to be post-European
from the early to mid 1500s, but there is no evidence
introductions[a]
that the early European explorers made any plant
introductions into PNG at that time.
Crop Number of Post- Pre-
A small number of species from the Americas locations European European
were introduced by Europeans into Indonesia and surveyed introduction introduction
spread from there to PNG before 1870 (Table 1). (%) (%)
The most important of these was sweet potato (see Bixa 32 31 69
page 17). Another crop of American origin that
Cassava 65 63 37
became important in PNG is tobacco. Tobacco
was introduced by Europeans to the Moluccas in Lima bean 25 20 80
eastern Indonesia before 1600, from where it spread Sweet potato 52 54 46
to New Guinea. It is likely to have come into PNG
Tobacco 52 17 83
at a number of locations. One of these is the Trans
Fly area in the south of Western Province, where [a] These crops were introduced to PNG between 1600 and 1870 .
Moluccan traders probably introduced tobacco when Sources: Extracted from published reports and author surveys in
they came to this area seeking dammar between various locations in the PNG lowlands and highlands .
1645 and 1790.4 The first written record for tobacco
in New Guinea is by the Dutch explorer Schouten in do not. It is likely that bixa seed was also spread
1616, who saw it on Arimoa Island in north-western from Indonesia, where it had been introduced by
Papua (Indonesia). Tobacco diffused through New Europeans from the Americas (Table 1).
Guinea over several centuries, but it had not reached
south-east New Guinea (Oro, Central and Milne
Bay provinces of PNG) by the time of first sustained Plants used for agriculture until 300
contact with foreigners from the 1870s. years ago
Lima bean was also probably transported from east
Indonesia to New Guinea some time between 1700
and 1870. It had been introduced to east Indonesia Prior to permanent settlement by foreigners in the
prior to 1650. Many villagers in the highlands believe 1870s, more than 170 plant species were used by
that lima bean was used by distant ancestors, but Papua New Guineans for food. As well, hundreds of
others say it is an introduction (Table 1). other species provided materials for shade, firewood,
medicine, tools, weapons, house and fence construc-
Cassava is another food crop that was probably intro-
tion, decoration, rope, string, food wrappings, bark
duced into parts of mainland PNG from west New
cloth, dress, personal adornment, canoe and raft
Guinea some time after 1800. People in the western
construction, and ritual and magic purposes. The
part of PNG, in particular Western and Sandaun
most important staple (carbohydrate) foods were
provinces, consider it to be a ‘traditional’ crop. It
taro, banana, sago and yam (Figure 3.1.2).
seems that cassava was introduced directly to some
islands by European sailors around the same time. Many plant species that today provide carbohydrate
food, vegetables, fruit and nuts were either domes-
Bixa, a plant used as a bright red dye and body
ticated in the New Guinea area or were introduced
paint, also reached PNG before 1870. Some villagers
into PNG thousands of years ago (Table 2). Other
consider bixa to be a traditional plant, but others
species were domesticated in Asia or elsewhere in the
Pacific and then introduced into PNG somewhere
between several hundred to several thousand years
4 Dammar is a resin that comes from a number of trees,
including Vatica papuana, which grows in south-west
ago (Table 3). Many other minor foods in PNG are
PNG (Swadling et al. 1996:157–65). It was used for likely to have been important in the past, but have
lighting, as well as for coating and sealing pottery. been displaced by more recent introductions.

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 15


Most of the species listed in Table 3 were domesti- 50 years.5 Kava was probably also domesticated in
cated in Asia, but two came from the Pacific. The the Pacific, in Vanuatu, and introduced before 1870
first is pao nut (Barringtonia procera), which was into a limited number of locations in PNG including
probably domesticated in the Solomon Islands and the Madang area, some islands off Manus Island, and
introduced into New Ireland and the Admiralty parts of Western Province (see Section 3.5).
group relatively recently, perhaps less than 1000
years ago. It was taken by migrants from southern
New Ireland to the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain 5 Related species (B. novae-hiberniae and B. edulis) with
about 400 years ago. It has spread to mainland New edible nuts are found on New Guinea as well as the
Guinea and elsewhere in New Britain over the past Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Table 2 Crops domesticated in the New Guinea area, or very ancient introductions

Staple (carbohydrate) foods *Oenanthe Nuts


*Banana *Pitpit, highland *Breadfruit
Coconut *Pitpit, lowland Candle nut
*Cordyline *Rorippa Castanopsis
Kudzu (Pueraria) *Rungia Dausia
Polynesian arrowroot Trichosanthes pulleana *Elaeocarpus womersleyi
*Sago Tulip *Finschia
*Sugar cane Wandering Jew *Galip (Canarium decumanum)
*Taro (Colocasia) Fruit *Galip (Canarium indicum)
Taro (Alocasia) *Bukabuk *Galip (Canarium lamii)
Taro, swamp Coastal pandanus *Karuka, planted (Pandanus
julianettii)
*Yam, greater Golden apple
*Karuka, wild (Pandanus antaresensis)
Yam, aerial Mango (Mangifera minor)
*Karuka, wild (Pandanus brosimos)
Yam (Dioscorea nummularia) *Marita pandanus
*Okari (Terminalia impediens)
Yam (Dioscorea pentaphylla) Mon
*Okari (Terminalia kaernbachii)
Vegetables *Parartocarpus venenosa
*Omphalea gageana
*Dicliptera papuana *Pouteria maclayana
Polynesian chestnut (aila)
*Ficus wassa Raspberry, red (Rubus moluccanus)
Sea almond (talis)
*Highland kapiak Raspberry, red (Rubus rosifolius)
Sis (solomon)
Job’s tears *Ton
Stimulants
*Kumu musong
Betel nut, highland
Betel pepper, highland

Note: Species with an asterisk (*) are likely to have been domesticated by people in the New Guinea area . The other species in this
table may have been domesticated in the New Guinea area, but the evidence is less clear .

16 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


Columbus, an Italian navigator and maritime
The adoption of sweet potato in the explorer who crossed the Atlantic Ocean under
highlands (about 300 years ago) Spanish sponsorship. Portuguese explorers then took
sweet potato to Africa, India and their colony in the
Moluccas in eastern Indonesia. From there it was
Sweet potato was taken from its American homeland traded by local people into New Guinea. Oral history
by Polynesians who introduced it into many Pacific research from the Tari basin in Southern Highlands
islands and New Zealand about 1000 years ago. Province and archaeological research at Kuk in
However, it came to PNG from Indonesia. Sweet Western Highlands Province indicates that sweet
potato was taken back to Europe from the West potato was adopted in the highlands some decades
Indies after the first voyage in 1492 by Christopher after the major volcanic eruption of Long Island
off the north coast of New Guinea. This blanketed
the highlands in ash which leaves a record in the
Table 3 Crops introduced into PNG from Asia or the soil as well as in oral history (related as the ‘Time
Pacific several hundred to several thousand years ago of Darkness’). The eruption has been dated to 1665.
Further oral history research shows sweet potato
Staple (carbohydrate) foods was traded into the Lagaip Valley of northern Enga
from the Sepik area. It may have been adopted into
Yam, lesser
the highlands of Indonesian Papua somewhat earlier
Vegetables than 1700.
Aibika
Prior to the adoption of sweet potato in the New
Amaranthus tricolor Guinea highlands, people depended on taro as
Bean, lablab their main food, supplemented by banana and yam
(Dioscorea alata). The adoption of sweet potato
Bean, winged
brought major changes in highland societies. First,
Castor sweet potato makes good pig fodder, and can be
Coral tree fed to pigs raw, whereas taro must be cooked.6 The
adoption of sweet potato gave an advantage: people
Cucumber
could produce more pigs, thus becoming wealthier
Ginger than their neighbours. Also, their diet possibly
Gourd, bottle improved. Second, sweet potato will grow at higher
Gourd, wax altitudes than taro. The adoption of sweet potato
meant that people could occupy higher altitude
Lemon grass
land on a permanent basis. Settlements spread from
Fruit around 2200 m up to 2800 m above sea level. Third,
Malay apple the adoption of the new crop resulted in significant
changes in the social organisation. Some of these
Rukam
changes are known from oral history research in
Nuts Enga Province.
Pao (Barringtonia procera) By the time that Europeans penetrated the highlands
Stimulants of PNG in the 1920s and 1930s, sweet potato was
Betel nut the main food for almost all highlanders. There were
some exceptions. West of the Strickland River, in the
Betel pepper, lowland
Oksapmin and Telefomin areas, taro remained the
Kava

Note: Kava was probably domesticated in Vanuatu . Pao was 6 Taro contains crystals of oxalic acid that cause severe
probably domesticated in Solomon Islands . The other crops in irritation to the mouth and throat of humans and pigs.
this list most likely came to PNG from Asia . Cooking destroys these crystals and makes taro edible.

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 17


most important food. Several groups of people living the same year, the London Missionary Society (LMS)
in the Lamari and Imani valleys south of Kainantu placed teachers on three islands in the Torres Strait
still depended on a mix of taro, yam and sweet near PNG. In the following year (1872), the LMS
potato. People in these two valleys changed to a diet established stations west of Port Moresby and on the
based on sweet potato after about 1980. At the time coast of Western Province. Also in 1872, a trading
of contact with outsiders, sweet potato was present at post was established on the Duke of York Islands
a number of locations along the north coast of New between New Britain and New Ireland. In 1873, the
Guinea as far east as the Huon Peninsula. It was not German firm Godeffroy set up trading stations in
present in the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Blanche Bay on New Britain. Methodist missionaries
Islands until the early to late 1800s, where it was established a station on the Duke of York Islands
introduced by European traders and settlers. in 1875.
Some people in the PNG highlands, for example in Records of crop introductions are limited, although
the Tari basin, have stories about the time when they some early accounts exist. French Marist missionaries
did not have sweet potato and taro was their staple introduced a number of food crops to Woodlark
food. But most highlanders think that their ancestors Island in Milne Bay Province in 1847, including
have always lived on sweet potato. In fact, it has been beans, pumpkin, corn (maize) and watermelon.
the most important food in the highlands only for Miklouho-Maclay introduced pumpkin, watermelon,
about 10–12 generations, or 300 years. The changes corn and pawpaw (papaya) to the Rai Coast in 1871
brought about by its adoption are still occurring with seed brought from Tahiti. He noted that the
today, for example, in the continuing intensification pawpaw, watermelon and corn ‘became the favourites
of land use (see Section 3.6). and were soon introduced in the plantations
[gardens] and the villages on the coast’. In 1873 he
introduced mangosteen, durian, orange, lemon, coffee
Settlement by foreigners and and other species with seed from east Indonesia.8
introduction of many new crops Methodist missionaries introduced a number of food
(since 1870) crops to the Duke of York Islands in 1875, including
orange, lemon, lime, custard apple, guava and new
varieties of banana. Many of the early introductions
The settlement in PNG by foreigners first occurred in PNG were made by Pacific island missionaries, as
in the early 1870s. Europeans, Asians and other well as by Europeans and Asians.
Pacific islanders settled in many coastal locations,7 When many of these introductions occurred is not
bringing with them new plant species. The Russian known, but it is known which species have been
scientist Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay lived on the Rai introduced since 1870. These include hundreds of
Coast near Madang for several years from 1871. In potential cash crops, as well as fodder plants (grasses
and legumes), shade crops, decorative plants and
7 Prior to 1870 there were a few scattered and generally weeds.9 Many food crops were introduced into PNG
short-lived settlements in the New Guinea region.
From 1793 to 1794 there was a British settlement at
Restoration Bay near Manokwari in west New Guinea.
8 Villagers at Bongu village and nearby locations still use
The Dutch made a settlement on the south coast of their version of Russian names for some of the plants
west New Guinea at Triton Bay in 1828–36. Both and items introduced by Miklouho-Maclay, including
locations are a long way from PNG, so it is unlikely watermelon, corn, pumpkin, cucumber, knife and axe.
that crops introduced by the British or Dutch settlers The term for corn (gugurus), derived from the Russian
were transported to PNG, but it is possible. A mission word for maize (kukuruz), is used elsewhere in coastal
station was established at Guasopa on Woodlark Island Madang Province.
in Milne Bay Province by French (and later Italian) 9 For example, the Experiment Station at Rabaul
Marist Catholic missionaries between 1847 and 1855. had planting material of 115 species available for
The Marists established a settlement on Umboi Island distribution in 1926. Most were introduced species
between New Britain and New Guinea in 1848–49. and included fruits, vegetables, other food crops, cover
These settlements had limited and local impacts. crops, fodder grasses and actual or potential cash

18 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


after 1870 (Table 4). The Department of Agriculture, to have been introduced into some coastal locations
Stock and Fisheries introduced more than 2200 in the 1870s or 1880s and to have spread into the
varieties of 90 food crop species between 1950 and highlands over the next 40–50 years. Another crop
1975. Many of these species were already in PNG by that was adopted quickly in the highlands was
then; further introductions were made to identify pumpkin. Villagers in some locations in the Sepik
varieties with superior qualities.10 River area believe kangkong to be a traditional crop,
which suggests that it was possibly introduced to that
Foreign settlement, particularly the introduction
area some decades before 1870.
of new crops and cash cropping, resulted in an
important new era in PNG agriculture. Some of the
new crops were adopted by villagers and had a signif-
icant impact on village agriculture. For example, Foreign cash cropping
the anthropologist Malinowski, who conducted (1880s onwards)
fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands in Milne Bay from
1915 to 1918, noted that, since the adoption of sweet
potato (in the 1890s) and the availability of imported Individual foreigners and overseas companies have
rice, there had not been a famine. Sweet potato, and been involved in PNG agriculture since the 1880s.
later cassava, were widely adopted throughout the This history is partially covered in a number of
islands of Milne Bay Province and greatly improved publications and is reviewed only briefly here. Some
food security. At a village in the Aiyura basin in of the first foreign settlers in PNG came to trade for
Eastern Highlands Province in 1980, villagers grew coconut to make copra. Villagers in many coastal
87 species of food and cash crops. Almost 60% of locations in the islands and on the New Guinea
these (51 species) had been introduced and adopted mainland responded by planting significantly more
during the previous 50 years, including some grown palms. Copra was the most important cash crop in
in significant quantities such as peanut, coffee, PNG from the 1880s to the early 1970s. Foreigners in
common bean, Chinese taro, corn and pak choi. both New Guinea and Papua produced and exported
a wide range of cash crops from the 1880s onwards,
Some introduced crops moved inland ahead of generally in small quantities. These included tobacco,
European colonisation. Corn was widely grown in cotton, kapok, rubber, cocoa, sisal and coffee. Cattle
Eastern Highlands, Simbu and Western Highlands and rice were grown for the local market. Other
provinces when the first European explorers and agricultural exports collected from natural stands
missionaries visited those areas in the 1930s. It was of trees or the sea included ivory nut (the seed of a
spread by villagers after being introduced to the palm related to sago), sandalwood, bêche de mer
Madang area by Miklouho-Maclay. The naturalist (sea cucumber), trochus shell and pearl shell.
MacGillivray further distributed corn in Milne Bay
in 1849. Corn was present on some other islands Prior to 1940 experimental plantings were made of a
when first visited by European explorers in the wide range of other crops including sugar cane, corn,
1870s. Similarly, some people in the highlands were castor, tea, cinchona (for quinine), teak, oil palm,
growing common bean by the 1930s. It also seems vanilla, ginger and peanut, with a view to developing
export industries. During the 1950s copra remained
the most important export crop, supplemented by
crops. The cash crops included those producing fibres, rubber, cocoa and coffee. Coffee and cocoa increased
oils, spices, rubber, West African oil palm, bixa, coffee in significance in the 1960s and 1970s (Figure 5.2.3).
and cocoa. There were a number of varieties of some
Oil palm, tea, tobacco, corn, sorghum and peanut
species (Hopkins 1926).
were also grown by individual foreign settlers and
10 Rice (627 varieties) and wheat (272 varieties)
accounted for 40% of the varieties of food plants
large plantation companies. Village cash cropping
introduced between 1950 and 1975 (Charles 1976). increased in significance from the 1950s and the
This was part of a significant but unsuccessful research plantation sector declined after 1980. Smallholders
effort by the Department of Agriculture, Stock now dominate production of all cash crops except oil
and Fisheries to make PNG self-sufficient in rice palm (Table 5.2.1).
production (see Section 2.5).

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 19


Table 4 Some of the food crops introduced into PNG after 1870

Staple (carbohydrate) foods Pumpkin Mango (Mangifera indica)


Corn (maize) Radish Mangosteen
Irish potato Rhubarb Mulberry
Queensland arrowroot Shallot Naranjilla
Rice Silverbeet Nectarine
Taro, Chinese Soya bean Orange
Wheat Spring onion Passionfruit, banana
Vegetables Tomato Passionfruit, lowland yellow
Amaranthus blitum Turnip Passionfruit, purple
Amaranthus caudatus Watercress Pawpaw
Amaranthus cruentus Yam bean Peach
Bean, broad Zucchini Persimmon
Bean, common Fruit Pineapple
Bean, snake Apple Plum, Japanese
Beetroot Avocado Pomegranate
Broccoli Brazil cherry Pomelo
Cabbage, Chinese Bullock’s heart Pulasan
Cabbage, head Cape gooseberry Rambutan
Capsicum Carambola Raspberry, black
Carrot Cherimoya Rockmelon
Cauliflower Cumquat Santol
Celery Custard apple Soursop
Chilli Durian Star apple
Choko Elder Strawberry
Eggplant Governor’s plum Suga prut (highland yellow
passionfruit)
Garlic Granadilla
Tamarillo (tree tomato)
Kangkong Grapefruit
Tamarind
Kohlrabi Guava
Watermelon
Leek Guava, cherry
Watery rose apple
Lettuce Jackfruit
Nuts
Onion Langsat
Cashew
Pak choi Lemon
Macadamia integrifolia
Parsley Lime
Macadamia tetraphylla
Pea Loquat
Pecan
Peanut Mandarin

20 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


 Adoption of more productive varieties of some
Changes in village agriculture crops, including sweet potato and banana.
since 1940
 More intensive land use characterised, for
example, by shorter fallow periods and longer
cropping periods (see Sections 3.6 and 3.8).
After 1940 the rate of change in PNG agriculture
increased greatly. Factors driving these changes were:  Development or adoption of techniques to
maintain soil fertility. These include managing
 Population increase and pressure on land. The
fallow species composition by planting trees
population of PNG rose from 2.2 million in 1966
(especially casuarina in the highlands); crop
to 5.2 million in 2000 (an increase of 138%)
rotations, especially of sweet potato and
(Table 1.1.3).
peanut; and green manuring (composting)
 Alienation of land in some locations, resulting (see Sections 3.7 to 3.12).
in increased land pressure. For example, in the
 Development of new agricultural systems
Cape Hoskins to Talasea area of New Britain,
by the integration of export cash crops into
land was alienated for growing oil palm (see
food crop systems. These systems include
Sections 5.7 and 6.1).
coffee–casuarina–food crops in the highlands
 Cash cropping by smallholders. Crops include and cocoa–food crops–leucaena–banana on the
cocoa, coffee and coconut (see Part 5). Gazelle Peninsula.
 Plant diseases, especially taro blight, but also a
root rot in Chinese taro.
Agricultural techniques
The first major change since 1940 was the replace-
ment of taro by sweet potato as the staple food in
Bougainville and the rest of the Solomon Islands. Villagers use a variety of agricultural techniques in
This occurred because of the devastating impact of the cultivation of food and cash crops (see Sections
taro blight, which was introduced there in the early 3.7 to 3.12). These techniques are used in different
1940s. Change did not occur evenly in all parts of combinations, depending on climate, soil type, fallow
the country. On the Gazelle Peninsula of East New vegetation and pressure on land. Archaeological
Britain Province, for example, major changes in research provides evidence as to how long some of
the food crops grown, production techniques used these techniques have been practised.
and the adoption of cocoa as a cash crop took place
between 1945 and 1965, while in adjacent West New  Stone tools were used as early as 40 000 years
Britain Province the widespread planting of oil palm ago. Stone tools were used for clearing trees
and changes in the main food crops grown did not until the late 1800s, when they were replaced
take place until after 1970. by introduced steel tools. In some highlands
locations, stone tools were used until about
The responses people made to the new social and 1950. In some places stone tools are still used to
economic conditions include: extract sago starch.
 Adoption of new crop species. Production  Burning has a very long history in PNG and has
of sweet potato and cassava in particular has been used for clearing land for at least 30 000
expanded greatly since 1940 (Figures 2.2.1, years (see Section 3.8).
2.2.3). Other crops that have been widely
adopted and become relatively important  Drainage of agricultural land is widespread in
foods include corn, peanut and Chinese taro. PNG (see Section 3.12). Field drains have been
Irish potato has become important above dug in the highlands to remove excess water
2000 m altitude. from food gardens for 4500–5000 years.

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 21


 Mounding is a widespread technique in PNG
(see Section 3.11) and has been observed from Summary
7000 years ago at Kuk.
 Fences are commonly built to exclude domestic
People were in what is now the island of New
and wild pigs from food gardens (see Section
Guinea about 50 000 years ago and in the Bismarck
3.12). This technique has not been dated, but
Archipelago and the Solomon Islands around 40 000
presumably it was only adopted after pigs were
and 30 000 years ago respectively. We do not know
introduced into PNG about 3500 years ago.11
who the earliest occupants of New Guinea were,
 Green manuring (composting) was widespread nor their relationship to modern populations. The
in large areas of Enga, Southern Highlands and final period of prehistoric settlement is associated
Western Highlands provinces when Europeans with the arrival of Austronesian speakers from
first visited the region in the 1930s (see Section island South-East Asia. They entered the Bismarck
3.11). It is possible that the technique was Archipelago and the Solomon Islands over the
invented in this form about 150 years ago.12 period 3500 to 3000 years ago and had a marked
 Planting trees in fallow land to improve influence on the subsequent history of those regions.
soil fertility is a technique used in a limited Austronesian impact on the New Guinea mainland
number of locations (see Section 3.10). This was later, more uneven, largely restricted to the coast
technique has increased in importance since and intensive only in particular places. Settlement
the 1920s, but it is not known when it first by Europeans, Asians and other Pacific islanders
developed. An examination of swamp deposits from 1870 onwards caused major changes in
in a number of highlands locations has shown agricultural production.
that at around 1200 years ago there was a The very early New Guineans depended on hunting
marked increase in the numbers of casuarina and gathering, but it is probable that they began to
pollen grains compared to older levels. This has manage nut-producing trees to encourage better
been interpreted to mean that people began production. There is evidence from starch grains on
deliberately planting casuarina trees around this stone tools for use of taro 28 000 years ago on Buka
time, perhaps to provide timber as natural stands Island. It is likely that early migrants domesticated
were depleted. sago, galip nut and other native species. Agriculture
was invented in New Guinea independently of
developments elsewhere in the world but at a similar
time to its beginnings in the Middle East and
central China.
It is now generally accepted that many of the PNG
11 Pigs were introduced into the Bismarck Archipelago
about 3500 years ago. The earliest record for pigs on food crops that were important before 1870 were
the New Guinea mainland is 2000 years ago and the domesticated in New Guinea or nearby areas,
first record for the highlands is 1000 years ago. including the Bismarck Archipelago, as well as in
12 The practice of placing organic matter in large mounds Asia. Important foods probably domesticated in
or beds to form compost was still spreading in recent the New Guinea area are taro, some yam species,
decades (early 1960s to late 1980s) on the edge of the banana, breadfruit, sago, many plants used as green
‘composting zone’. This suggests that adoption of the
vegetables, and some fruits and nuts. Some species
technique was as recent as the nineteenth century.
Given the initial boost that sweet potato would have
were domesticated in both the New Guinea area and
given to food production, there would not have been Asia independently. In contrast to the important
a need to adopt such a technique immediately after food crops, the most important domestic animal
adoption of sweet potato. Development of the large species – the pig, chicken and dog – were introduced
composted mounds in Enga probably occurred in into New Guinea after being domesticated elsewhere.
central or western Enga some years after the initial
introduction of sweet potato (Wiessner and Tumu
1998:115).

22 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea


The indigenous PNG cassowary has been hunted and been adopted because of its ability to provide food
captured chicks reared in captivity, so it could be said energy, while the other species have been retained for
to be partially domesticated. different reasons.
There is a long but poorly known history of adoption The many minor species of green vegetables used in
and domestication of new crop species. It is likely PNG may also be what the ethnobotanist Jacques
that a number of new species were introduced by Barrau calls ‘witnesses of the past’. That is, their
Austronesian-speaking migrants from about 3500 continuing use tells us that they were once important
years ago. The overall direction has been replacement foods, but have been superseded by superior species.
of crops by others that have higher productivity, can The displacement of older species by ones with
cope better with environmental or disease problems, superior characteristics has continued into recent
and have superior eating properties. For example, times. For example, sweet potato replaced taro as
it is likely that people once ate wild yam with poor the main food in the highlands about 300 years ago.
eating properties. Some of these species were In the lowlands, food crops of American origin,
domesticated and the quality of the tubers improved. particularly sweet potato and to a lesser extent
There are indications that some species of yam, such cassava and Chinese taro, have displaced the older
as Dioscorea pentaphylla and D. nummularia, are Asia–Pacific crops of taro, yam, banana and sago
very ancient crops in PNG, perhaps introduced from (Figure 3.1.2).
elsewhere but most likely domesticated in the New
The adoption of sweet potato in the New Guinea
Guinea area. Tubers of D. pentaphylla, for example,
highlands led to significant changes in the social and
have inferior eating qualities and yields appear to
economic conditions, as well as allowing settlement
be poor, yet people still grow the occasional plant,
at higher altitudes. Sweet potato and tobacco were
probably for its cultural value (‘bilong tumbuna’)
the first of a wave of new crop introductions. They
rather than for food. It is likely that superior varieties
reached PNG between 300 and 400 years ago. Since
of the greater yam (D. alata) were developed and
permanent settlement by foreigners in the 1870s, a
that greater yam became the most important
large number of food crops, cash crops, other plant
species of yam before the introduction of lesser yam
species and domestic animals have been introduced.
(D. esculenta).
The new food species, the growing importance of
Lesser yam is likely to have been a later introduction export commodity markets and other social and
into PNG.13 It is agronomically superior to other economic changes have resulted in many important
yam species in PNG, including greater yam, has changes to agricultural systems since the 1940s.
fewer disease problems, a greater yield per plant and
Agriculture has had a long and successful history
tubers that are more easily prepared for cooking
in PNG. The history of agriculture has been one of
than those of most yam species. More people grow
continuous change and evolution, with the rate of
greater yam than lesser yam, although greater yam
change increasing towards the present. The outcome
is not usually an important food (Tables 3.1.1,
has been agricultural systems which, despite signifi-
2.2.1). Dioscorea esculenta is less important for ritual
cant social and economic change in other sectors of
purposes than the other yam species, particularly
the economy, still feed more than 80% of the PNG
greater yam. All of this suggests that lesser yam has
population. The adoption of new crops and the
invention of new techniques to cope with changing
environmental conditions, increasing population
pressure and social change has been carried out
13 Lesser yam may have been introduced 1000–3000 years with great skill and imagination. People will have
ago, but this is a crude estimate. Austronesian migrants to continue to adapt to different circumstances,
possibly introduced it 3500 years ago. However,
including to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, climate change
linguists have not been able to reconstruct a word for
this species in Proto-Oceanic, the language spoken and new economic conditions. There is every reason
by the Austronesian migrants (Malcolm Ross, pers. to believe that they will continue to do so as they
comm.). This suggests that lesser yam may have arrived have done for the past 50 000 years.
in PNG some time after 3500 years ago.

History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea 23


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26 History of agriculture in Papua New Guinea

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