Papua New Guinea Survey Report Rural Household Survey On Food Systems

Between May and July 2018, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) implemented a household-level survey in four areas of PNG: the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (South Bougainville near Buin), Madang (Middle Ramu near Kwanga Station), East Sepik (near Maprik) and West Sepik (near Nuku). The survey investigated the food systems of rural households and how they assure sufficient food to meet the nutritional needs of their household members. The household questionnaire for the survey focused on agricultural production systems and health outcomes and included modules on: production; consumption and expenditure; labor activities (farm and non-farm); nutritional status; and the experience of the survey households with recent agricultural production or other shocks that impacted their livelihoods. This report provides descriptive results from the survey and discusses key indicators and actions to improve agricultural systems and nutrition in PNG.

This research note provides a description of the survey sample and implementation and reports on initial findings from analysis of the survey data. Our aim is to use this research and evidence to spur a policy dialogue on promoting increased agricultural productivity, enhanced food security, and improved nutrition policies in PNG. Initial survey results show that most of the food consumed by rural households in the sample is produced from households’ own farms, indicating that consumption is closely linked with overall agricultural productivity. Classifying the survey sample by poor and non-poor households, we find that the poor households are not consuming the recommended daily calorie levels, considered necessary for a healthy and productive life. The survey data also suggest that child stunting (29 percent) and wasting (7 percent) are relatively high in the surveyed areas.

From May to December 2023, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) implemented a rural household survey that collected detailed data on rural household food consumption and expenditures, agricultural production practices, employment profiles, child and mother 24-hour diet recall, and child anthropometry measurements in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The research team carried out the survey, which used location-based sampling, across five agroecological study areas, of which four of the areas were defined using elevation and rainfall variation. The five agroecological survey areas were seasonal highlands, nonseasonal highlands, seasonal lowlands, nonseasonal lowlands, and islands (the islands survey sample was not disaggregated by elevation or precipitation patterns). In identifying seasonal and nonseasonal survey areas, we adapted the rainfall seasonality categories established by Bourke and Harwood (2009), who evaluated the relative difference in rainfall between the wet and the dry season using resource mapping units defined by the PNG Resource Information System (PNGRIS). The areas of the country that experience large seasonal variation in rainfall (heavy to light, depending on the season) are classified as seasonal, whereas the areas that experience moderate to continuously heavy rainfall throughout the year are classified as nonseasonal (see Figure A1.1 in the appendix for the survey seasonality classification by area). In nonseasonal areas, agricultural growing conditions remain similar year-round, whereas seasonal rainfall areas have agricultural conditions that necessitate a variety of production strategies. Lowland and highland areas were defined using elevation data; areas 1,000 meters or more above sea level were classified as highlands, and those below 1,000 meters were classified as lowlands. The survey collected data from 270 communities across 14 provinces, from a total of 2,699 households. It is important to note that the survey is not nationally representative. Rather, we chose a purposive sample using criteria that would enable analysts of the data to understand the key factors that interact within rural households and communities to create more resilient local food systems, more diversified employment profiles, and improved well-being. Generalizable relationships between variables that affect socioeconomic and other development outcomes in rural PNG communities should be seen consistently in both representative and unrepresentative survey samples.

Conducting household surveys through face-to-face interviewing in rural Papua New Guinea is beset with difficulties and high costs. With phone network coverage spreading across PNG, using mobile phones to obtain information from respondents can allow such surveys to be done more quickly and at significantly lower cost. However, not all rural households own mobile phones. In this Project Note, an assessment is made of whether survey information collected by calling respondents on their mobile phones will be representative of the population surveyed or, rather, might be subject to systematic biases. This assessment is done by analyzing the characteristics of households in four rural areas of PNG that were interviewed in a field survey in mid-2018.

Papua New Guinea continues to encourage a policy focus on food and nutrition security. The PNG National Nutrition Policy (2016-2026) and Nutrition Strategic Action Plan (2018-2022) (NSAP) set a path to improve coordination, secure sufficient funding, and improve technical capacity of nutrition-focused pro gram implementation. As policy prioritizes improved nutrition outcomes, it is important to understand the cost that households face of securing a higher level of nutrition. Ensuring a healthy diet that meets nutrition standards is relatively expensive in PNG. The analysis presented in this paper, which uses detailed household food and non-food consumption data suggests that 4/5 of households in the survey sample live below the healthy diet poverty line (which sets a calorie threshold and defines healthy diet nutrition targets). That is, these households do not have the income available (or do not consume sufficient food and non-food goods) to meet their basic needs which includes securing a nutritious diet that meets food based dietary guidelines.

Papua New Guinea continues to encourage a policy focus on food and nutrition security. The PNG National Nutrition Policy (2016-2026) and Nutrition Strategic Action Plan (2018-2022) (NSAP) set a path to improve coordination, secure sufficient funding, and improve technical capacity of nutrition-focused pro gram implementation. As policy prioritizes improved nutrition outcomes, it is important to understand the cost that households face of securing a higher level of nutrition. Ensuring a healthy diet that meets nutrition standards is relatively expensive in PNG. The analysis presented in this paper, which uses detailed household food and non-food consumption data suggests that 4/5 of households in the survey sample live below the healthy diet poverty line (which sets a calorie threshold and defines healthy diet nutrition targets). That is, these households do not have the income available (or do not consume sufficient food and non-food goods) to meet their basic needs which includes securing a nutritious diet that meets food based die tary guidelines.

Rice prices in international markets rose sharply between December 2019 and May 2020, increasing, for example, by 25 percent in Thailand and 30 percent in Vietnam. Given that essentially all of the rice supply for Papua New Guinea (PNG) comes from rice imports, the domestic price of rice in PNG is likely to rise substantially in coming months. Although PNG’s food economy is dominated by domestically produced starchy staples, rice imports have almost doubled from 167,000 tons annually in 2005 to an estimated 300,000 tons in 2020. This note examines rice consumption patterns and international trade trends for PNG to shed light on the potential impacts in rural and urban PNG of disruptions to rice imports. Our model simulations indicate that a 30 percent rise in the world price of rice would be expected to decrease the rice consumption of poor households by 17.3 percent. Under this scenario, consumers in poor households, which are those in the bottom 40 percent of the household expenditure distribution in PNG, would suffer a net welfare loss of USD 23.0 million, equivalent to a 1.6 percent decrease in a per capita daily income of one US dollar.