Food Plants Of Papua New Guinea

Food Plants International was formally established in 1999, but its origins go back to 1980. Bruce French, founder of FPI, was living in Papua New Guinea at the time, and noticed that many villagers suffered disease and malnutrition, often while surrounded by nutritious food plants. It wasn't that they didn't know anything about their local plants, but there were clearly a lot more edible plants than was readily recognised. Also, there was very little nutritional information available about the plants. Bruce also observed that most of the information taught in agricultural colleges related to temperate plants commonly produced in Western agriculture. From these humble beginnings, Bruce set out to document the food plants of PNG, an effort that soon spread to include the entire world of food plants.

Agriculture dominates the rural economy of Papua New Guinea (PNG). More than five million rural dwellers (80% of the population) earn a living from subsistence agriculture and selling crops in domestic and international markets. Many aspects of agriculture in PNG are described in this data-rich book. Topics include agricultural environments in which crops are grown; production of food crops, cash crops and animals; land use; soils; demography; migration; the macro-economic environment; gender issues; governance of agricultural institutions; and transport. The history of agriculture over the 50 000 years that PNG has been occupied by humans is summarised. Much of the information presented is not readily available within PNG. The book contains results of many new analyses, including a food budget for the entire nation. The text is supported by 165 tables and 215 maps and figures.

This book is designed as a very simple introduction to the more common food plants seen around Papua New Guinea. It is hoped people will take a greater pride and interest in these plants and become proud and informed about how to grow and use them well.Many of the traditional food plants of Papua New Guinea are very good quality foods. Unfortunately, people are often rejecting traditional food plants and growing more of the introduced vegetables such as cabbage. These do not have the same high food value as many of the traditional, tropical, dark green leafy vegetables.Papua New Guinea has over 1,000 different species of edible plants. Some of these are only harvested from the wild and others are only known in small areas. Many others occur with hundreds of varieties and are the main food for people in the different regions.

The insects mentioned in this book have all been reported as damaging to food crops in Papua New Guinea. Some are serious pests that must be controlled, other insects do little damage and do not need any action by the farmer to control them. In fact, as much care is needed to recognise insects that are not going be pests as it is to recognise those that might. If farmers spend time, energy and money trying to kill the wrong insects this is not only wasteful, but the controls (especially chemical controls) could actually cause some of these harmless insects to become pests. This happens especially where parasites and predators (beneficial insects) are working naturally to keep the insect under control (biological control). Killing parasites or predators allows insects to breed without control and therefore to become pests. Because it is important to be able to tell the difference between the different insects that might be on a plant this book puts a great deal of effort into describing each insect and all its stages.

This book is going to talk about growing food in Papua New Guinea. Not everybody in the country grows and eats the same foods. Neither do they grow them or use them in the same way. Many of the more traditional food plants have lots of different names in different Tok Ples languages. It is hoped the drawings and descriptions will be enough to help you to work out the plant that is being described. Scientists give every plant a name in the Latin language. This is included so that we can know exactly which plant is being talked about. This name stays the same whatever country or whatever language is being used. So these names look hard but they are very useful. Sometimes Tok Pisin or Tok Ples names are included.Most of the food plants people grow and use are very good food plants. They are something about which people should be proud. They are something about which we all should take a special interest.Papua New Guinea has a beautiful range of plants that can be used for food. It is still true that many of these have not been written about properly. Many of the highly nutritious edible greens are simply called "kumu" and in many places are not highly regarded. Often these plants are grown throughout the tropics and are of worldwide importance. But because they lack a name in English they also often don't have one in Tok Pisin and few books discuss them.