Food security in Central Province, Papua New Guinea

Food security and income for villages through village chicken rearing and reef restoration

This project is being implemented in communities across Central Province to undertake coral reef conservation activities and introduce village chicken keeping and vegetable gardens as an alternative protein source. A major obstacle for the sustainability of conservation projects is compliance among coastal communities, especially if it means short-term reductions in fish catch. The project will address this problem by introducing village chickens as an alternative protein source for fish, which will run in parallel with community-led coastal conservation and livelihood initiatives. We train Master Farmers in poultry husbandry, coral gardening, participatory community decision making and permaculture, in order to lead these activities in PNG.

Where: PNG communities of Tubusereia, Gabagaba, and Vanapa.

Status: Ongoing (started July 2019)

Supported by: ANCP DFAT

What are we doing?

1. Supporting improved health and production of local breed, semi-intensive village chickens by master farmers.

2. Supporting community involvement, training and awareness campaigns on the benefits of improved village poultry production.

3. Empowering local marine conservation leaders to work with their local communities and government to establish effective and sustainable marine resource recovery.

More importantly, why?

Increased production of village poultry in target communities.

Increased awareness and care for marine habitat for food security and climate change resilience.

Increased consumption of poultry meat and eggs.

Increased income from the sale of poultry and/or eggs/poultry services (e.g. local feeds production).

Community led marine conservation zones demonstrating improved coral reef habitat and fish populations in target communities.

Some of our key Master Farmers and Coral Gardeners on the project, including recent community trainees in Pinu, Central Province.

Will this work contribute to ongoing change?

Our commitment is working with local agencies and government to ensure the long-term sustainability of our project, even after funding ends. And, we are currently in the process of sourcing additional funds to extend the project to more villages.

We measure our outcomes against indicators set out for the specific globally recognised sustainable development goals for 2030.