WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 677

Standard Project Report 2016
Country Context and WFP Objectives
Country Context
In Papua New Guinea (PNG) the vast majority of the 7.7 million people live in rural villages and rely on subsistence
farming to meet their economic and nutritional needs [1,2]. Any surplus crops and livestock that subsistence farmers
do not consume are sold, accounting for the bulk of personal income [2].
PNG faces high risk of natural hazards such as earthquakes, flooding, landslides and droughts. From April 2015 to
January 2016, a stronger-than-average El Niño Southern Oscillation resulted in an intensification of drought, which
severely limited the production of staple crops. WFP, in cooperation with the Government of PNG and humanitarian
partners, determined that 1.47 million people in PNG were highly affected by the 2015-2016 El Niño, with the most
severe cases involving homestead gardens that were completely destroyed and villages reporting deaths related to
hunger [3]. Although drought conditions had mostly subsided by February 2016, homestead gardens did not recover
in some parts of the country until as late as August 2016, when the El Niño was officially declared as over. Looking
to 2017 and beyond, climate change is expected to intensify droughts in the country [2].
In 2016, two trends in agriculture limited the population's access to sufficient, affordable and nutritious food. Firstly,
as in previous years, there was a dearth of technical knowledge in pest control and crop management, resulting in
low yields of staple crops such as kaukau (sweet potato) [4]. Secondly, the prices of food staples mostly doubled
between August 2015 and February 2016 following the El Niño drought [3]. Imported foods such as rice, flour, milk
and vegetable oil continued to be expensive because of high costs and did little to alleviate urban dependence on
food imports [2].
Papua New Guinea, Independant State of (PG)
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