production.

European vegetables. A num ber of village groups and insti tutions in the Port Moresby area are growing traditional staples commercially and the

Kapogere agricultural station

near Kwikila is promoting this activity. Ilimo Farm near Port Moresby, now government owned, may well be used for

large-scale staple production.

However, whilst present efforts are proving commer cially viable, there is a market problem. The production is sold to Port Moresby (edu cational institutions, hospitals, defence force) and the insti tutional population of Port Moresby is about 20% of the total population. Of these, per haps half are ‘captive con sumers’ in the sense that the institution provides their food.

The potential for import re

placement from this activity

may not therefore be great. The market sites set up by the city council throughout Port Moresby cater for individual village producers who sell to individual urban householders and supply about a quarter of the city’s food needs. Unless this system is changed, and there are good reasons for

retaining it, large-scale pro

ducers may not be able to mar ket their production.

A note on rice is relevant since it can be grown in Papua New Guinea and is the biggest

single food import (SA29

million in 1977-78). Rice has been grown in the Mekeo re gion since 1906 and despite compulsion in the inter-war years, and the introduction of

mechanised production during

the war, it has never really suc ceeded, partly because of the climatic requirements of rice but mainly because of the low returns to growers. A recent analysis by the national rice co ordinator, Peter Hale, indicates that mechanised production on five-hectare blocks in the Mekeo is a financially mar

ginal proposition.

A third area on which the policy is silent is exactly how food imports will be prevented from increasing above present levels. The production of more marketable food within the country will not be enough on its own since price differentials favour the consumption of

imported staples. This is par ticulai.'y true in Port Moresb) Common economic measure such as tariffs on food imports quantitative import restriction and devaluation are not likef to be used because of thi government’s determination t< limit price increases (and hena minimum wage increases) U urban wage earners. Alterna lively, it may be hoped to in crease local production to th< extent that prices of loca staples will fall so as to beconu

competitive with importer

staples. This would require i

very large increase in domestu

production.

Early in 1979, an annual rice import quota of 65 000 tonnes was introduced, compared with a level of 82 000 tonnes foi 1978. This quota is to be achieved by a series of quar terly reductions in imports ovei a year, in order to minimisd

shortages and disruptions in

supply. The cuts have been arranged so as to leave Port

Moresby’s supply untouched,

to reduce supplies to Rabaul, and most other island centres by 20%, and to cut supplies to the Highlands by 36%.

There are other ways of increasing local food supplies expanding road networks,

encouraging urban gardening

and encouraging village pro

duction by higher prices. Each of these has its problems.

Roads may allow village pro ducers to sell their output at Port Moresby markets, but the proceeds of these sales arej largely spent on food imports.

Urban blocks are of insuf ficient size to support more than a few thousand persons even if all of Port Moresby’s potential urban gardens were fully utilised. Price support for

growers implies a marketing

organisation of such a size and! complexity that it is most un-j likely to be established.

Self-reliance is a laudable! aim but it has its costs and these I should not be under-estimated. I An assessment of the import re-1 placement costs has not been] carried out. It may prove that rice from Australia and tinned mackerel from Japan are the

cheapest sources of food!

supplies for Papua New I Guinea’s towns.