Photo credit: Islands Business
Although the economy has diversified, agriculture remains the backbone of Papua New Guinea's economy, providing a living for the majority of the people, according to Institute of National Affairs (INA) executive director Paul Barker.
Agriculture, according to Barker, will be critical in securing PNG's economic and employment future, as well as the country's status as a significant agricultural and food producer both locally and regionally.
However, he claimed that large portions of the nation were unproductive or too steep for commercial cultivation.
“The population is also growing fast, with growing land pressure in parts of the country, as well as the challenges of growing urbanisation and limited formal sector employment opportunities, weak governance, and a relatively short and rather unsatisfactory history of investment in infrastructure and human resource development.”
According to Barker, this is exacerbated by pervasive and escalating corruption, as well as inadequate utilisation and accountability of public monies.
“Clearly, this also applies to supposed renewable resources, such as forestry and some fisheries and other marine resources which have been widely treated as an infinite resource but extracted in an unsustainable and damaging manner, with repeated harvests well within the period for regrowth or population recovery, or using seriously destructive.”
Reference: The National (7 June 2022). “Agriculture ‘backbone of the economy”.
