Png

From a senior researcher who helped design the PNG image format comes a guide that focuses on implementing PNG with the libpng C library and discusses improvements, such as gamma correction and the standard color spaces for precise reproduction of image colors on a wide range of systems.

Lahui Ako, a former diplomat, and PNG APEC Senior Official, recounts the complex, difficult, and sometimes treacherous path he faced in the world of multilateral diplomacy, both by himself, and his country, when it committed to host and chair APEC in 2018. He tells of the political barriers, the diplomatic innuendos, the financial hurdles, and the organizational complexity he encountered, from the planning phases in 2012, right up to being in the cross-fire of the nationalistic Trump officials, and China’s aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomats where hard choices had to be made in November, 2018. Ultimately, there wont be a consensus APEC 2018 Leaders’ Declaration, but Lahui and his team will acquit themselves well; simply, because, their God knows best.

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.

Context: The average consumption of protein foods in Papua New Guinea (PNG) remains insufficient to meet nutritious diet guidelines, especially in rural areas. While an expanding literature has demonstrated that poultry is a cost-efficient animal source food to increase protein intake, rural households in PNG face high prices at the market for poultry meat. Similarly, the high price of poultry production inputs constrains greater uptake of rural poultry production. PNG’s heavy reliance on feed (and feed input) imports, as well as high transportation costs and insufficient rural manufacturing and processing infrastructure creates limited opportunities for rural subsistence and commercial poultry production growth. Objective: There is a lack of value chain studies to understand the feasibility of expanding the local mini livestock feed mill model in PNG to increase poultry feed supply in underserved areas. This study builds from earlier work on rural livestock feed infrastructure programs, and aims to fill the knowledge gap on the opportunities and constraints for expanding domestic livestock feed production and distribution via rural mini feed mills. Method: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 8 mini mills and 13 poultry farmers across 4 highland provinces during October and November 2022. We synthesize the interview transcriptions of the qualitative interviews in tandem with quantitative analysis of food consumption and agri-food trade data, as well as the authors’ own field observations in this paper. Results: The in-depth interviews showed that the poultry farmers who purchased from local mini feed mills substantially lowered their feed costs, resulting in greater gross profits compared to rural poultry farmers that only sourced feed from commercial feed suppliers. However, the mini feed mills that we interviewed outlined a series of challenges in sustaining rural feed mills in PNG. The main challenges of running a successful mill included feed mill equipment procurement, electricity reliability, reliable raw ingredient supply, mini mill retailing to secure a client base, and adequate information about feed formulation. We identified two potential approaches that have overcome many of the identified challenges, that could be replicated and adapted to expand mini feed mill operations in the Highlands. The first approach is a farmer cooperative model that incorporates credit and feed delivery services to cooperative farmers. In doing so, they are able to better estimate volume demand for processed feed and accommodate feed production accordingly. The second approach follows a lead firm model, whereby a local farm supply retail outlet is expanding its business to include livestock feed production and supply, overcoming equipment procurement constraints given their previously developed business model focused on farm implement supply. Our evaluation provides detailed costs and benefits of both approaches for potential expansion of these livestock feed producer and distributor models.

Root and tuber crops (RTCs) are important dietary staples and food security crops for the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Pacific Islands. However, the productivity of RTCs remains almost static, reflecting the agro-technological and socio-economic constraints to production, while consumption is challenged by high imports of cheap cereal products. Research and development (R&D) on RTCs receives little attention compared to other established commodity crops like coffee, oil palm, coconut and cocoa.

Root and tuber crops (RTCs) have been the mainstay for 85% of Papua New Guineans, contributing to food security and household income. Although RTCs have special importance in Papua New Guinea (PNG), research and development on increasing their production has been minimal. Eighty percent of the population is reliant on agriculture, but the government focusses on non-renewable minerals and petroleum production. In this paper, the status of RTCs in PNG is outlined. Linking the private sector with farmer groups and government support, is key for RTC development.

DIVJoin the author as she reflects on her adventures in foreign missions, and the love and freedom in Christ she found along the way. Dad and Me in PNG (Papua, New Guinea) will inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and do something big for God! /div

"A spectacular transition is under way in the Pacific Islands, as a result of which all our lives will be radically different. In the last fifty years or so, Asia has begun to play a bigger and bigger role in all aspects of Islands life - migration, trade and investment, aid and development, information and media, religion, culture and sport. It is replacing the West. The process is irreversible. With his trademark breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding of the region, based on over half a century of experience, study and deliberation, Ron Crocombe documents the early connections between Asia and the Pacific, details recent and continuing changes, and poses challenging theories about the future."--Publisher.