Annual Report 2017

Few countries boast a trove of agricultural biodiversity richer than that of Papua New Guinea. With over 200 different crop species, Papua New Guinea is a mountainous tropical half-island north of Australia facing massive development challenges – 85% of the population subsists on agriculture. 

Systematically understanding farmer motivations for why they grow what they grow is challenging, as they rarely articulate to others or even to themselves how their choices are made. This meant that the methodology adopted by researchers, in this case Q methodology, needed to assist farmers to systematically think through why they choose to plant crop diversity, or not. The Q methodology led farmers to rank a series of statements; the ranking was then analyzed to sort farmers into five different opinion groupings, based on their responses:

1. Marketer-consumers 
   While still seeing their gardens as primarily a source of their own food, members of this group prioritize the economic value of crops more than other groups. Interestingly, they do not see a diverse crop portfolio as buffering the impacts of changing market trends, suggesting a willingness to specialize in a narrower range of crops. Indeed, this group has lower than average crop diversity. 
    
2. Pragmatists  
   This group is mainly driven to grow diverse crops for consumption, with health value and ease of cooking preparation heavily influencing their choices. They value conserving crop diversity to have more options in the future and are not readily willing to discard older varieties as new ones come along. However, pragmatists are also a little contradictory: they are more indifferent than other groups to maintaining traditional crops. This apparent contradiction seems to stem from a general pragmatic approach to farming and recognition of resource constraints. This group tended to have slightly higher crop diversity than other groups.
    
3. Proud Exhibitionists
   These farmers above all the other groups value crop aesthetics, which they consider as reflecting their skills as gardeners. They are not particularly bothered by discarding old varieties, instead focusing on ‘high status’ crops that can still meet traditional needs.  For example, one farmer commented on his pride in cultivating large yams, which has long been a point of pride in highland Papua New Guinea—but he was referring to recently introduced African yams, not old, prized native varieties.
    
4. Novelty Seekers
   This group is always seeking new crops and does not place much value on maintaining old varieties for future options. They experiment more readily than other groups and do not see plot size as a constraint, even if their landholdings are smaller than average. They are interested in what other farmers grow, from a perspective of discovering new crops rather than status comparisons. Crop choices are dynamic for this group.
    
5. Secondary Farmers
   This group differs from the others in that crops are not the farmers’ primary focus in terms of income. They cultivate crops for home consumption but pay little attention to aesthetics or novelty. Unlike other groups, they do not maintain some crops for use in times of weather stress. They also do not place much weight on crop diversity as a status symbol, and are only slightly concerned about conserving and maintaining traditional varieties for future use. 

Pragmatists, marketers, exhibitionists & novelty seekers. A new study reveals that when it comes to choosing how much #cropdiversity to plant, the type of farmer matters as much as the type of crops

What drives farmers to plant #cropdiversity? A study of farmers in #PapuaNewGuinea shows farmer type is a major factor in planting decisions @CGIARClimate

This research is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and is supported by CGIAR Trust Fund Donors.