Academic literature on the topic 'Agriculture Economics aspects Papua New Guinea'

Araecerus is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Anthribidae. They are very important economic pests of coffee, cocoa and other agricultural crops. The species that commonly attack coffee (Rubiaceae) beans is Araecerus fasciculatus (Degeer) commonly known as coffee bean weevil. However, five (5) undescribed species of genus Araecerus were reared predominantly from the seeds of Mastixiodendron pachyclados (Rubiceae) commonly known as Garo garo and it is a native tree of Papua New Guinea. Fruits of M. pachyclados were regularly sampled and insects attacking them were reared, preserved and identified. Fruits were hand collected, photographed, weighed and reared. Insects emerging from the fruits were captured and preserved in 99% ethanol. All the specimens were identified into morphospecies at the laboratory. The five new species of genus Araecerus (Anthribidae) were designated as Araecerus sp.1, Araecerus sp.2, Araecerus sp.3, Araecerus sp.4 and Araecerus sp.5 according to their differences in body length; scutellum color, size, hair-scales and visibility; length of first and second segments of fore tarsus; apical and subapical teeth-size (mandible and maxillary palpi); declivity of dorsal abdomen; basal-anterior eye markings; lateral eye markings; absence of eye markings; and shape of pygidium. Araecerus sp.1 was described as having yellowish gold marking inside the base of eye, Araecerus sp.2 with pygidium almost vertically-flat at abdominal apex, Araecerus sp.3 have eyes without yellowish gold marking and generally dark in colour, Araecerus sp.4 with distinct yellowish gold interior-lateral marking in its eye, and Araecerus sp.5 with pygidium pointed at abdominal apex. Proper identification of these five species is beneficial for effective application of control measures. Since they are major pests of cash crops such as coffee and cocoa, identification of their species and quantification of their abundance will foster economic returns and crop protection aspects as their abundance is closely related to crop damage. Keywords: Araecerus; scutellum; declivity; pygidium.

This research focussed on Fair Trade (FT) coffee supply chains in Papua New Guinea. Three research questions were asked. First, do small holders in the FT chains receive higher returns than the smallholders in the conventional chains? Secondly, if smallholders in the FT coffee chains receive higher returns from their coffee than the smallholders in the conventional chains, what are the sources of these higher returns? Finally, if smallholders in the FT chains don't receive higher returns than in the conventional chains, what are the constraints to smallholders receiving higher returns from the FT coffee chains than the conventional chains? A conceptual framework for agribusiness supply chain was developed that was used to guide the field work. A comparative case study methodology was selcted as an appropriate method for eliciting the required information. Four case study chains were selected. A paired FT and conventional coffee chains from Okapa and another paired FT and conventional chains from Kainantu districts, Eastern Highlands Province were selected for the study. The research found that smallholders in the FT chains and vonventional chains receive very similar prices for their coffee (parchment price equivalent). Hence, there was no evidence that smallholders in the FT chains received higher prices or returns from their coffee production than smallholders in conventional chains. This study also found that there was no evidence of FLO certification improving returns to smallholders in the FT chains over those returns received in the conventional chains, but the community that the FT smallholder producers come from did benefit. The sources of these community benefits lies in the shorter FT chains and the distributions of the margin that would have been otherwise made by processors to producers, exporters and the community. In addition, this study found that constraints associated with value creation are similar in all the four chains studies. However, there are some added hurdles for the FT chains in adhering to FT and organic coffee standards. Moreover, FT co-oeratives lacked capacity to trade and their only functions were to help with FLO certification and distribute the FT premium to the community. The findings of this research support some aspects of the literature, but not others. The research contribution is the finding that in this period of high conventional coffee prices, returns to smallholders from FT chains were no bettter than the returns gained in conventional chains, which leads to oppotunism and lack of loyalty by smallholders in the FT chains. The other contribution of this research is in identifying a particular type of free rider who is not a member of the FT co-operative but has right to the community benefits generated by the FT chain.