Impact of training on horticultural practice adoption by women smallholders in Central Province, Papua New Guinea

Subsistence food production is the most important part of PNG agriculture, providing most of the food consumed in the country, with an estimated 83% of food energy and 76% of protein. Women play a crucial role in agricultural development, including main crop production, livestock production, horticulture, postharvest operations and fishing. Women in the horticulture industry in Central Province are no exception. Hence, in an attempt to increase the supply of vegetables into the Port Moresby markets to meet the increasing demands for these crops, women in the horticulture industry should be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to contribute to the increased production required. In line with this, the objectives of this research were to: (1) identify the training needs of women farmers in the horticulture industry at the village level in Central Province through a needs-analysis workshop; (2) determine the adoption and implementation of techniques presented during training; and (3) obtain feedback from women farmers in regards to the suitability of the training delivered. The main training needs were identified as farm production (crop management and irrigation), marketing (product readiness and price negotiation) and business skills (banking and bookkeeping). Post-training evaluation using survey questionnaires, interviews and focus-group discussions showed that the training was effective in improving their basic business skills, farm production skills and knowledge, as well as increasing marketing opportunities. A companion paper in these proceedings (Palaniappan et al. 2013) describes how these training needs were earlier identified in separate mother/daughter and father/son training needs–analysis workshops.