From technology transfer to integrative learning: a Papua New Guinea case study of sweet potato smallholders

Barbara PAMPHILON, Elizabeth Kopel, Debbie Kapal

Research output: Book/ReportCommissioned reportpeer-review

Abstract

This monograph is written for agricultural and rural development practitioners with an interest in improving Pacific rural livelihoods through learning programs at a family and community level. It explores an innovative training program for smallholder farmers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) that integrated a technical training program on new soil improvement and sweet potato production techniques with a gender transformative household learning program, the Family Farm Teams workshops developed by the University of Canberra. The aim of this approach was to encourage more equitable and therefore sustainable farming and family practices and to ensure that, as sweet potato is a ‘women’s crop’ in PNG, additional burden was not placed on women.

The case study reveals that both women and men farmers highly valued the new soil improvement techniques, especially as they used readily available and no-cost local materials such as wild bush leaves and animal manure. The new pathogen tested sweet potato was highly palatable, had good yields and sold well at the local market. While some changed roles for women and men were reported, the women chose to continue with most of their roles as this gave them control of the income from this important women’s crop.

However, it was clear that farmers did not simplistically take up the new technical knowledge but rather they integrated it with the existing practices they most valued, for example with the forms of composting they already used. Further, both women and men farmers closely observed the changes to the soil and could describe in their own words the components that showed them that the soil had improved. As such they were active learners who built on their own existing knowledge and skills.

Although all farmers shared their learning with close family and many with extended family, several women who saw the financial value of the new techniques and improved sweet potato yield shared their learning and sweet potato vine cuttings with vulnerable women and very young married couples as they saw this as a way out of poverty and a sustainable future for them. Such an ethics of care showed the importance of family, cultural and values-based learning networks in a collectivist society such as PNG.

The lessons from this case study suggest that ‘technology transfer’ is more likely to be effective when integrated with existing contextual knowledge of farmers. Further, as male farmers have been the primary target of technology transfer education, it shows how a family and gender-based approach to farmer learning can lead to more equitable and effective farming. What is most notable is how farmers integrated their own knowledge and practices and their personal and cultural values with the new technical skills.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCanberra
PublisherCentre for Sustainable Communities
Commissioning bodyAustralian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
Number of pages26
ISBN (Electronic)9781740885904
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2024

Publication series

NameCentre for Sustainable Communities Monograph Series
PublisherCentre for Sustainable Communities
No.7

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