Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea

Since the establishment of oil palm land settlement schemes (LSSs) in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, the settler population has increased significantly as secondgeneration settlers marry and raise families on their parents blocks. We explore how settlers are responding to demographic a...

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Main Authors: Koczberski, Gina, Curry, George
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/9666
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author Koczberski, Gina
Curry, George
author_facet Koczberski, Gina
Curry, George
author_sort Koczberski, Gina
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Since the establishment of oil palm land settlement schemes (LSSs) in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, the settler population has increased significantly as secondgeneration settlers marry and raise families on their parents blocks. We explore how settlers are responding to demographic and socio-economic change in an environment in which opportunities for land-use change are limited. In the context of rising population pressure, LSS smallholders are developing innovative livelihood strategies by pursuing non-farm income sources, increasing food production, acquiring additional land and migration. The type of migration or land accumulation strategy depends on household access to various resources, especially social and kinship networks, and capital. Agricultural extension and rural development policies have not yet responded to this socio-agronomic transformation. We conclude that economic diversification amongst smallholders creates new opportunities for the oil palm industry to formulate more innovative and sustainable policies that strengthen the oil palm industry in PNG while facilitating broad-based rural development.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-96662019-05-23T05:54:13Z Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea Koczberski, Gina Curry, George Melanesia Rural development policy Income diversification Smallholder production Agricultural change Since the establishment of oil palm land settlement schemes (LSSs) in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, the settler population has increased significantly as secondgeneration settlers marry and raise families on their parents blocks. We explore how settlers are responding to demographic and socio-economic change in an environment in which opportunities for land-use change are limited. In the context of rising population pressure, LSS smallholders are developing innovative livelihood strategies by pursuing non-farm income sources, increasing food production, acquiring additional land and migration. The type of migration or land accumulation strategy depends on household access to various resources, especially social and kinship networks, and capital. Agricultural extension and rural development policies have not yet responded to this socio-agronomic transformation. We conclude that economic diversification amongst smallholders creates new opportunities for the oil palm industry to formulate more innovative and sustainable policies that strengthen the oil palm industry in PNG while facilitating broad-based rural development. 2005 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/9666 10.1016/j.agsy.2005.06.014 fulltext
spellingShingle Melanesia
Rural development policy
Income diversification
Smallholder production
Agricultural change
Koczberski, Gina
Curry, George
Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea
title Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea
title_full Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea
title_fullStr Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea
title_full_unstemmed Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea
title_short Making a living: Land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea
title_sort making a living: land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in papua new guinea
topic Melanesia
Rural development policy
Income diversification
Smallholder production
Agricultural change
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/9666