Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea

This paper discusses how smallholder settlers on government-sponsored oil palm land settlement schemes in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, have responded to rising land pressures since the late 1960s when the settlement schemes were established. After providing an overview of the oil pal...

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Main Authors: Nake Steven, Curry George N., Koczberski Gina, Germis Emmanuel, Bue Veronica, Tilden Geraldine M., Koia Merolyn, Pileng Linus, Ryan Sean
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:Cahiers Agricultures
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cahiersagricultures.fr/articles/cagri/full_html/2025/01/cagri240212/cagri240212.html
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author Nake Steven
Curry George N.
Koczberski Gina
Germis Emmanuel
Bue Veronica
Tilden Geraldine M.
Koia Merolyn
Pileng Linus
Ryan Sean
author_facet Nake Steven
Curry George N.
Koczberski Gina
Germis Emmanuel
Bue Veronica
Tilden Geraldine M.
Koia Merolyn
Pileng Linus
Ryan Sean
author_sort Nake Steven
collection DOAJ
description This paper discusses how smallholder settlers on government-sponsored oil palm land settlement schemes in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, have responded to rising land pressures since the late 1960s when the settlement schemes were established. After providing an overview of the oil palm industry in Papua New Guinea and key smallholder groups, the paper focuses on how settlers responded to land and income pressures through technical, social and institutional innovations. It is argued that while smallholders have experienced significant constraints and threats to their livelihoods, most have been able to exercise a fair degree of agency to improve their livelihoods. Institutional factors have also been critical to enhancing smallholders’ adaptive capacity in responding to rising land and economic pressures.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 1166-7699
1777-5949
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher EDP Sciences
record_format Article
series Cahiers Agricultures
spelling doaj-art-0242f0b4cf4a464784b019d5f0ca0aca2025-08-20T03:28:09ZengEDP SciencesCahiers Agricultures1166-76991777-59492025-01-01342410.1051/cagri/2025025cagri240212Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New GuineaNake Steven0Curry George N.1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5528-3122Koczberski Gina2Germis Emmanuel3Bue Veronica4Tilden Geraldine M.5Koia Merolyn6Pileng Linus7Ryan Sean8https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4836-7313PNG Oil Palm Research Association, Dami Research StationCurtin UniversityCurtin UniversityPNG Oil Palm Industry CorporationPNG University of TechnologyCurtin UniversityPNG Oil Palm Research Association, Dami Research StationPNG Oil Palm Research Association, Dami Research StationCurtin UniversityThis paper discusses how smallholder settlers on government-sponsored oil palm land settlement schemes in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, have responded to rising land pressures since the late 1960s when the settlement schemes were established. After providing an overview of the oil palm industry in Papua New Guinea and key smallholder groups, the paper focuses on how settlers responded to land and income pressures through technical, social and institutional innovations. It is argued that while smallholders have experienced significant constraints and threats to their livelihoods, most have been able to exercise a fair degree of agency to improve their livelihoods. Institutional factors have also been critical to enhancing smallholders’ adaptive capacity in responding to rising land and economic pressures.https://www.cahiersagricultures.fr/articles/cagri/full_html/2025/01/cagri240212/cagri240212.htmladaptive capacityresiliencesocial innovationtechnology adoptionrural livelihoodssustainable developmentgendersmallholders
spellingShingle Nake Steven
Curry George N.
Koczberski Gina
Germis Emmanuel
Bue Veronica
Tilden Geraldine M.
Koia Merolyn
Pileng Linus
Ryan Sean
Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea
Cahiers Agricultures
adaptive capacity
resilience
social innovation
technology adoption
rural livelihoods
sustainable development
gender
smallholders
title Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea
title_full Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea
title_fullStr Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea
title_full_unstemmed Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea
title_short Social, technical and institutional innovation: oil palm smallholders’ responses to rising land and income pressures in Papua New Guinea
title_sort social technical and institutional innovation oil palm smallholders responses to rising land and income pressures in papua new guinea
topic adaptive capacity
resilience
social innovation
technology adoption
rural livelihoods
sustainable development
gender
smallholders
url https://www.cahiersagricultures.fr/articles/cagri/full_html/2025/01/cagri240212/cagri240212.html
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