Elsevier

Ecological Economics

Volume 137, July 2017, Pages 99-109
Ecological Economics

Analysis
Feeding the Household, Growing the Business, or Just Showing Off? Farmers' Motivations for Crop Diversity Choices in Papua New Guinea

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.02.025Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We analyze semi-subsistence farmers' motivations for growing diverse crops.

  • This is done via Q methodology, a mixed qualitative/quantitative method.

  • The case study is Papua New Guinea, a major center of crop diversity.

  • Results show five main types of farmers, with highly different motivations.

  • Results can be used to target crop conservation and use programs.

Abstract

Understanding farmers' reasons for growing diverse crop portfolios is essential for supporting the conservation of agricultural biodiversity to foster social-ecological resilience and conserve crop genetic resources. In this paper, Q methodology is applied to examine the motivations for growing diverse crops among semi-subsistence rural farmers in Papua New Guinea. Various types of farmers are identified including so-called ‘marketer-consumers,’ who are highly motivated by crop sale, and ‘exhibitionists,’ who prioritize the ‘show’ values of crops. This approach can be applied to better target programs seeking to conserve crop diversity and promote new crop varieties in regions undergoing rapid transformation.

Introduction

Agricultural systems and the genetic resources associated with them are currently facing a number of overlapping stressors, including economic, climate, and demographic change (FAO, 2010). These forces are transforming agricultural practices, including fostering a trend towards prioritizing a limited number of marketable crops in systems often heavily reliant on synthetic agrochemical inputs, unsustainable irrigation schemes, and conversion of forests and fields into mono-cropped operations (Perrings et al., 2006, Jackson et al., 2012). Maintaining agricultural biodiversity (henceforth, agrobiodiversity) on farms is seen as fundamental for the social-ecological resilience of agricultural and cultural landscapes, within which smallholders pursue livelihoods amidst global agricultural intensification processes (Zimmerer, 2013). In more intensive agricultural systems agrobiodiversity also plays an important role, including hedging risks and potentially improving economic efficiency (Omer et al., 2007, Pascual et al., 2013).

Few countries boast a trove of agrobiodiversity richer than that of Papua New Guinea (PNG), where over 200 different crop species, native and introduced, are conserved almost entirely through de facto cultivation by farmers (Sem, 1996). This includes both traditional crops and many well-integrated crops (Bourke and Harwood, 2009). Diversity varies by farmer, however, with some growing as few as one or two crops, with just one variety of their main staple, and others growing over forty crops and numerous species and varieties. Variety loss could be particularly significant for this global biodiversity hotspot, with its rich plant-connected traditions, as well as for global crop conservation, making it crucial to understand the factors supporting crop choices that lead to diversity maintenance.

Analyses of crop choices in PNG are few and include mainly agronomic selection studies (Dehuku, 2001) and ethnobotanical studies of traditional plant uses (Sterly, 1997, Hays, 1974). Work in other regions has considered farmers' own perceptions, such as through surveys (e.g., Zawedde et al. 2014), valuation studies (e.g., Krishna et al., 2013), or in-depth interviews (e.g., Bardsley and Thomas, 2005). Though not universally done, work has increasingly sought to merge qualitative and quantitative insights (e.g., Bellon et al., 2003, Birol et al., 2006, Narloch et al., 2012, Zimmerer, 2013), such as through econometric modelling combined with informal interviews (e.g., Smale et al., 2001) or environmental analysis combined with ethnographic techniques (e.g., Zimmerer, 2003). Such work has rarely been undertaken in PNG, however; elsewhere, it has usually considered only one or two crops at a time, as opposed to the full farm portfolio of diversity. This leaves gaps in our understanding of which farmers grow diverse crop portfolios and why. Additionally, the methods that have previously been used to rigorously identify differences among farmers regarding diversity preferences are limited; additional methodological diversity within this space would help to examine such issues in a more holistic manner.

Indeed, farmers are highly heterogeneous, not least in terms of preferences regarding agrobiodiversity. Brookfield et al. (2002) argue that a minority of ‘expert’ farmers have superior knowledge and/or appreciation of agrobiodiversity and hence conserve or create biodiversity without sacrificing production. The literature also makes reference to ‘custodian’ farmers or ‘guardians’ of biodiversity (e.g., Sthapit et al., 2015), suggesting that some farmers play a role in protecting diversity as a ‘public good’ (Smale et al., 2001). Other authors have delineated farming styles (of which crop diversity is one manifestation) such as managerial, stewardship-based, or conservative (Walter, 1997). Cognizance of such divergence is crucial for understanding agrobiodiversity's role in adaptation and conservation, as ‘diversity on the land is better understood if diversity among individuals is recognized’ (Brookfield, 2001, p.16). With adequate information on farmers' motivations and preferences, conservation interventions can be targeted to be most cost-effective (e.g., Narloch et al., 2012).

This paper examines what motivates semi-subsistence farmers' crop diversity choices and how/whether this varies systematically among them. This is done through a case study of PNG using Q methodology, an increasingly valued quantitative approach to typically qualitative topics (Brown, 1980) that focuses on farmers' own conceptions of crop choice/diversity. In Q methodology, the emphasis is placed on allowing subjects to define their own viewpoints; we thus examine farmers' opinions about crop selection and diversity choices and determine whether there are typologies of farmers with regards to their views, such as the ‘expert famers’ identified by Brookfield (2001).

This paper adds to the literature by deepening understanding of how crop diversity choices are motivated and specifically by revisiting historical research on crop diversity in Oceania (Howlett, 1962, Sillitoe, 1981, Brookfield, 1991, Bourke, 1988). Given the socio-economic transformation occurring in PNG and associated conservation pressures facing crop diversity, examination of this topic is sorely needed. Methodologically, the paper adds to work on Q methodology by using the methodology to consider crop choice. The results suggest that, in addition to academic research, the method could prove practically useful—e.g., for incentive mechanism design and targeting (e.g., Zabala et al., 2017), given the importance of individual preferences in effective agrobiodiversity conservation and crop outreach interventions. The paper also adds to a limited number of uses of Q in developing-country contexts (e.g., Brannstrom, 2011 in Brazil; Robbins, 2000 in India; Zabala et al., 2017 in Mexico).

The next section provides an overview of the PNG context, before considering the literature on crop choice. Section 3 details the methods, fieldwork sites, and data collection and analysis procedures. Section 4 presents the results, identifying five separate groups of viewpoints, with significant differences. In Section 5 we discuss the results and highlight some policy implications for agrobiodiversity conservation. Lastly, Section 6 concludes.

Section snippets

Background: Crop Diversity in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a mountainous tropical half-island north of Australia and one of the world's culturally and geographically least explored yet most socially and biologically diverse regions (Fig. 1). A central spine of mountains divides the country into three regions: highlands, inland lowlands, and coastal lowlands and islands (Bourke and Harwood, 2009). Independent from Australia since 1975, PNG faces massive development challenges: the country is ranked 157 of 187 in terms of human

Q Methodology

Q methodology (Stephenson, 1935, Brown, 1980) has been used to consider several topics broadly related to natural resource management, such as US farmers' images of ‘success’ (Walter, 1997), farmer's environmental viewpoints in England (Davies and Hodge, 2007), farming styles in New Zealand and California (Fairweather and Keating, 1994, Brodt et al., 2006), state versus local environmental knowledge in India (Robbins, 2000), environmental governance in Brazil (Brannstrom, 2011), forestry policy

Identified Viewpoint Groups

Of the 92 interviewed farmers, 46% were male, and the average age was 35.5 years; 26% of participants had never attended school while 20% had completed secondary school, with the remainder having attended some school but not finished. These are representative of demographics of the target population except for a slightly higher proportion of women.

Data analysis used the software package PQMethod (Robbins and Krueger, 2000) and Stata SE10. Five factors were retained based on the Kaiser Criterion,

Discussion

Here we discuss the main results in the context of farmers' views on crop choice, drawing three main insights related to the importance of consumption, the relationship between marketing and diversity, and the relative unimportance of climate factors. We compare the results briefly to other similar studies and then note some limitations and policy implications.

First, across the five distinct crop-diversity-choice ‘groups’, consumption remained the primary motivator of farmers' crop choices

Conclusions

This study has examined Papua New Guinean farmers' perceptions of diverse crop choices, using their own words (as conveyed via Q methodology) to depict five distinct groups of viewpoints. The results indicated significant differences across these groups, particularly with regards to income generation and environmental concerns. However, the study also noted considerable commonality and shared values, such as the centrality of consumption-related traits. The results indicate the overlapping

Acknowledgements

This work was implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS, CCAFS-P43) which is carried out with support from CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors. The views expressed in this document cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of these organizations. Considerable thanks are due to Thecla Guaf, Ana Apa, and colleagues at PNG's National Agricultural

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