Change in PNG’s fresh food marketplaces over the past 60 years

Fresh food marketplaces are vital to food security, livelihoods, and the national economy in Papua New Guinea. They are spaces of both strong continuity with the past, but also of considerable transformation, particularly in the last 20 years. Marketplaces have spread geographically, and operate more often. There have also been shifts in what is being sold, and who is selling the produce, including the gender composition of vendors. Market chains have also grown in complexity. In this seminar, based on our recently published paper in Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, we bring together research on marketplaces from 1961 to 2022, based on our own field studies and an extensive review of the literature. We summarise the changes, examine their causes, and explore their development implications.

Speakers:
Dr Timothy Sharp is a geographer in the Pacific Livelihoods Research Group at Curtin University, Perth. Tim’s research examines fresh food marketplaces, export cash crops, trade intermediaries, informality, and livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea.

Dr Mark Busse is an economic anthropologist and a senior lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Auckland. He has done research in Papua New Guinea since 1982, including in fresh food markets in Western Province and Goroka.

Dr Mike Bourke OL is an agricultural scientist and geographer, and an honorary associate professor at The Australian National University. He has been continuously engaged in research, development and training in agriculture, including marketed fresh food, in PNG since 1970.

The ANU-UPNG seminar series is part of the partnership between the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and the UPNG School of Business and Public Policy, supported by the PNG-Aus Partnership.

This seminar is free and open to the public. Registration is required to attend the seminar. You can attend at the Seminar Room 9 (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University), at the MBA Suite (SBPP building, University of Papua New Guinea), or online via Zoom.