ACS10004 v5 AGRICULTURE GLOBAL PRACTICE THE FRUIT OF HER LABOR PROMOTING GENDER-EQUITABLE AGRIBUSINESS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA POLICY NOTE December 2014 THE FRUIT OF HER LABOR PROMOTING GENDER-EQUITABLE AGRIBUSINESS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA I. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: GENDER IN PNG AGRICULTURE The World Bank Group recently completed a study of gender issues in three agribusiness supply chains in Papua New Guinea (PNG) − coffee, cocoa, and fresh produce. It found women to be key to ensuring quality in PNG agriculture. Therefore, if PNG wants to export better quality coffee and cocoa, and to bring better quality fresh produce to market, it needs to focus on the contribution of women; to improve their skills and capacities, and to give women a bigger share of the benefits. Agriculture accounts for approximately one-third of GDP in PNG, and the sector is dominated by smallholder farming systems. Coffee and cocoa are – along with oil palm – the main cash crops, with respectively over 30 percent and 20 percent of the total labor force involved in their production, processing and sale. The coffee industry is a major contributor to national income and employment, as almost 3 million people depend directly or indirectly on coffee. Productivity is low, with yields on average 30-50 percent of their potential, and quality has also been deteriorating. Cocoa is one of PNG’s major agricultural exports, with an estimated 151,000 households, or about 1 million people, involved in the industry. The cocoa sector has been devastated by the emergence of cocoa pod borer (CPB). In East New Britain, production is estimated to have declined by 80 percent as a result of CPB. The fresh produce industry has great potential in PNG. Market demand for fresh produce is likely to remain high in years to come, due largely to resource-led development, increased urbanization, and a general rise in standards of living. Photos by Conor Ashleigh and World Bank Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, Port Moresby and Sydney, 2014. 2 This policy note derives from the joint World Bank-IFC report The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable The best quality is obtained from selective picking Agribusiness in Papua New Guinea. in which only red, ripe cherries are gathered by hand in successive picking rounds until most of The report, policy note and sector summaries the crop has been harvested. When coffee prices were prepared by consultants C. Mark Blackden are low, this time and labor consuming method (mblackden@comcast.net) and Maxie Makambo is expensive, whereas stripping allows individual Dominic (makambo020368@gmail.com), under the pickers to harvest between three and four times overall guidance of Anuja Utz (autz@worldbank.org) more per day, thereby reducing the number of and Amy Luinstra (aluinstra@ifc.org). picking rounds quite considerably. For more information visit Like wet processing, drying is also of extreme www.worldbank.org/png. importance. At this stage a coffee’s quality can literally be destroyed. Correct harvesting, processing and drying require maximum II. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS management input: having spent an entire year tending to and investing in the crop, do not then entrust its harvest and handling to poorly trained, unsupervised labor. Many potential candidate A) Women are Key to Quality coffees fail to make it to the specialty market, and Women provide substantial labor in both coffee and certainly to the exemplary segment, because their cocoa cultivation, and they predominate in the fresh green appearance shows shortcomings during produce sectors. More important than the amount of drying and storage. labor women provide, analysis of these supply chains Source: ITC 2011:191, 194. indicates that the specific tasks women undertake have a direct bearing on the quality of the final product. Women are directly engaged at critical stages of coffee The 2014 IFC baseline study for the coffee growing areas and cocoa production and processing. In coffee they are supported by the World Bank’s Productive Partnerships involved in picking, pulping, fermenting, and drying. In in Agriculture Project (PPAP) (Murray-Prior 2014) shows cocoa, women harvest, break the pods, sort the beans, men’s and women’s perceptions of their role in various and transport wet beans for fermenting. All of these are coffee-related and other tasks (Table 1). Of note is that time-critical tasks which must be undertaken promptly in women see themselves as having more of a role than relation to harvesting, and for a specific amount of time. men in weeding, picking, milling, and drying, and that In both sectors, these tasks substantially determine the they also see themselves as being involved in selling, quality of the coffee and cocoa delivered to the exporter. albeit not to the same extent as men, and as having a substantial role in land clearing. These perceptions also bear out the disproportionate burden of domestic work that falls on women. Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 3 either to allocate sufficient labor to these tasks, TABLE 1: PERCEPTIONS OF ROLES IN KEY or, equally importantly, to do them well, are low. COFFEE AND DOMESTIC TASKS Until women have the same motivation as men (PERCENT) to engage fully in coffee and cocoa production, or Activity Men Women have more of an opportunity to benefit from the Land Clearing 78 76 resulting income, the critical quality-enhancing Planting 73 48 tasks for which women are responsible will not be Weeding 61 77 done adequately, and quality will suffer. Picking 53 83 Wet Milling 48 58 Drying 49 62 As one study notes, although average returns to Selling 82 61 labor were found to be higher for coffee than in food Domestic Chores 25 96 production, women persevered with the heavy and Source: Murray-Prior 2014, Tables A11 and A12. less rewarding work of planting, harvesting, and In the case of fresh produce, women’s role in carrying food crops because the incentives were determining quality is just as important. Women better. They exercised more personal control over dominate production and processing activities. In this production, could intentionally produce a surplus sector, quality is largely driven by product enhancement over subsistence requirements for sale, and were (washing, sorting, grading, trimming, packing) which begins on the farm once the produce is harvested. When able to control and spend most of the cash earned and how these tasks are undertaken has a bearing both from selling food crops. on the quality of the fresh produce that reaches the Source: World Bank n.d. market, and on the extent of product loss and waste. Several factors contribute to product loss and diminished »» Knowledge and Information: Women’s access quality. These include: to the knowledge and skills required to carry out »» women’s lack of knowledge in post-harvest these tasks is extremely limited, as important gaps management practices; in education, literacy, skills, and participation »» inability to access, or to afford, recommended in extension and training activities persist. Key appropriate packaging materials for various crops; issues are: (i) extension services and training reach »» lack of cool storage facilities at farms, markets, a very small number of farmers; (ii) extension depots, and ports; efforts tend to focus more on social issues and less »» the use of inappropriate types of transport on agronomy; (iii) women are much less likely to (including public motor vehicles−PMVs) on poor benefit from extension and training than men; roads; and and (iv) neither men nor women fully appreciate »» weak communications and poor alignment of key the need for women to receive, and then be able actors along the supply chain. to apply, the extension messages specifically Three inter-related issues affect the ability of women related to the tasks for which they are primarily in PNG to contribute fully to improving the quality of responsible. Moreover, generally low levels of coffee, cocoa, and fresh produce. These are: education and literacy among women constitute a »» Incentives: There is a substantial gap between systemic barrier to unleashing women’s productive the work done by women in the coffee and cocoa potential in these sectors. sectors and the benefit they obtain, since women »» Socio-Cultural Dynamics: Wider socio- do much (if not most) of the work, but have economic factors in PNG continue to exert a much less access to, or control of, the resulting powerful influence on economic activity and on income. The economic incentives for women the performance of these supply chains. There Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 4 are important gender-specific dynamics at work agribusiness supply chains. This is the case for five in PNG society that differentially affect men’s and principal reasons, outlined below. women’s capacity to exercise economic agency. 1. Smallholders do not view their activity PNG society is largely patriarchal, and, even in as a business. In coffee, where earnings are matrilineal regions, men are seen as household seasonal, farmers see coffee as a “mechanism to heads and primary decision-makers. As a result, facilitate livelihoods” and not as an enterprise seeking women have less access to, and control of, the maximum output and return (in some instances leading resources needed to function economically, smallholders to replace coffee with fresh produce). notably land and capital (financial services). Decisions about what to cultivate, and what labor to While the PPAP baseline survey indicates that 56 allocate to it, are made largely without reference to percent of women perceive themselves as primary market drivers, and linkages with markets are weak. receivers of income from coffee, what is less clear The different stages of cocoa cultivation, reflecting the is the extent to which women have control over age and potential of the cocoa trees, are what gives rise the use of that income. This is an area requiring to the distinction between “farming” and “foraging” (see further study. Curry et al. 2007). This distinction reflects very different mind-sets on the part of farmers, where they tend to Men face many of the same issues confronting see their older blocks more as an “ATM” from which to women in the agricultural sectors, including poorly obtain cash as and when needed. The labor and time developed infrastructure, access to markets, pressure requirements for cocoa harvesting differ in significant on land from population increases, and new pest and ways, as are the earnings that can be obtained (Table disease threats. However, women’s lack of access to 2). If farmers are to become more business-focused, there need to be the business opportunities and market land, assets, and extension services, their lack of linkages to support the change. financial autonomy, the absence of collective action and entrepreneurial opportunities, create significant TABLE 2: KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF WET additional barriers, which are legal, cultural AND DRY BEAN COCOA PRODUCTION and situational....The systemic and consistent STRATEGIES discrimination experienced by women belies their Item Wet Bean Dry Bean potential and significantly hinders agricultural Duration of harvest 0.36 2.3 productivity and development opportunities. . round (days) Source: WIA 2010. Laborers per harvest 1.78 4.4 group (avg #) Labor days spent on 0.68 10.46 B) Broader Labor Dynamics Affect Outcomes harvest (avg #) Labor Allocation More women More men Labor issues cut across all the sectors, and have far- Income earned per 17.00 374.22 reaching implications for the performance of these harvest round (PG Kina agribusiness supply chains. Of particular importance are avg) gender differences in labor allocation and in rewards to Control of income Harvester Male HH labor, and the ways in which social and economic factors head intersect in determining labor use. The importance of Transport costs Nil/Low High focusing on labor activities undertaken by women to Share of cocoa in HH 40 77 income (percent) improve quality needs to be set against the broader HH = household socio-cultural dynamics of labor use in PNG, which are Source: Curry et al. 2007:59. key to understanding the performance of these Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 5 2. A lot of labor is allocated for social purposes. Social factors and obligations are at least as important Even before the advent of CPB, labor shortages were as economic ones in determining labor use. Church identified as a critical issue in the cocoa sector. CPB and community work absorbs a lot of people’s time. exacerbates the labor constraint by requiring an Consequently, relationships along supply chains can be seen to have at least as much to do with clan and culture even more labor-intensive approach to cocoa block as with product characteristics and market dynamics. management and cultivation, while simultaneously Notwithstanding, recent changes in labor dynamics, reducing the output from these blocks. It is estimated notably the evolution from a cooperative model (wok that it takes 2-3 times as much labor to manage bung wantaim) to a more commercially-oriented model cocoa blocks effectively since the advent of CPB. (makim mun), suggest that economic signals and market However, this can be seen as a temporary situation, drivers are beginning to have a more important role since, once CPB is under control, labor allocation in smallholder decisions about labor use (Curry and to cocoa cultivation can return to normal, pre-CPB, Koczberski 2009). levels. 3. Farmers experience labor shortages. Source: Curry et al. 2007. Households do not have enough labor to do all the things they need to do, or to do the work at the right time and 4. Farming systems are highly diversified. With in the right way. Alongside social obligations, food perhaps few exceptions, smallholder farmers are very production requirements are seen as more important diversified, producing a range of fresh produce/food than tree crop cultivation in determining labor allocation crops, alongside their cash crops. Diversification makes priorities. Given women’s dominant role in food sense, in that it is a risk management strategy, reducing production, this directly affects their ability to allocate dependence on one crop for cash income. However, it is either sufficient or timely labor to key tree crop also possible that some smallholder farmers are trying to production and processing stages. Data from the 1990s do too much with the limited labor they have. suggest that rural labor is occupied for around 4.25 hours/day, and it might be tempting to interpret this as 5. Women are mostly confined to, and can only indicating that labor is abundant. Overfield (1998) warns benefit from, short supply chains. Lack of mobility against this interpretation by pointing out that the − being more restricted to the homestead and not having division of labor is unequal: data indicates that women access to transport services, compounded by persistent work more than 3 times as much as men, especially when insecurity − means that women are largely excluded household work is included. Even in the area where there from key downstream activities along the supply chains, is the greatest parity between men and women in their where cocoa and coffee is sold to exporters (done by labor allocation, the coffee sector, women still allocate men, who, according to many women interviewed, nearly half as much time again as men do in this sector then pocket the cash). This, alongside heavy domestic (Table 3). Moreover, seasonal peaks, and the time-critical workloads and cultural constraints, contributes to women nature of key tasks, further exacerbate labor constraints being confined to, and largely only being able to benefit in all three sectors. from, shorter supply chains in the fresh produce sector, TABLE 3: LABOR ALLOCATION BY TASK AND where produce is sold in local markets close to the SEX, 1993 (HOURS/WORKER/DAY) homestead. Task Male Female M=1; F= Food 1.21 4.31 3.56 Coffee 0.67 0.96 1.43 Household 0.41 2.69 6.56 Total 2.29 7.96 3.48 Source: Overfield 1998, and authors’ calculations. Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 6 C) Provision of Key Support Services Poor infrastructure limits the performance of is Limited all supply chains and substantially raises the cost of doing business in PNG. Key infrastructure Several key services are either absent or issues include: (i) transport links are poor and costs are insufficient. In addition to the limited reach, and high; (ii) the absence of a cold chain and cold storage focus, of extension services, other key services are often facilities is a significant problem for the fresh produce not available to smallholders. Input supply is weak and sectors, and leads to high product losses and waste; inconsistent. New varieties are not readily available to (iii) lack of electricity, and frequent power cuts, add to farmers, and need to be developed to take account of the operating costs for actors along the supply chains; PNG’s specific climate and agricultural requirements. and (iv) poor communication infrastructure and high This is especially important in the fresh produce sectors, costs are an obstacle limiting information flows along and in further developing cocoa clonal varieties that are the chains. These infrastructure barriers, coupled resistant to CPB. Having a consistent supply of reliable, with insecurity, lead to delays in transport of goods to quality and affordable agricultural inputs, in particular markets and ports, non-use of refrigerated trucks along vegetable seeds for the fresh produce sectors, is key. key highways, lack of communication between farmers, buyers, and exporters as to volumes of produce to ship, There is limited access to financial services. The inability and timing of ship arrivals and departures, all of which of smallholder farmers to meet the lending criteria of lead to high levels of delay, uncertainty, and waste of microcredit and other financial institutions limits their product. access to credit. There are also important gender-specific barriers to accessing finance, as women tend not to own Lack of information, knowledge, the land, fixed assets, or other resources that are needed communications, and services (including to meet collateral requirements. education and health) more generally, is a further systemic barrier to gender- equitable agribusiness. Specifically, weaknesses in D) Systemic Issues Persist and Affect Supply communications and information services throughout Chain Performance the supply chains result in insufficient knowledge of Insecurity (especially for women) is pervasive market dynamics and requirements, poor coordination and remains a significant issue. Crime and with transport and other services, lower productivity, violence persist at high levels in PNG, especially along and persistence of subsistence-focused, as opposed transport corridors. Violence limits women’s ability to to business-oriented, farming. At the same time, poor serve in the field as researchers and extension agents. education and health services, and lack of public It has direct implications for extension services, in that expenditure prioritization also affect the performance of key players indicate that pervasive insecurity essentially these supply chains. precludes them from deploying women to areas or In sum, the quality of the cocoa and coffee that is communities unknown to them. Insecurity directly exported by PNG, and of the fresh produce that is affects the transport of goods, especially on the Highland sold in local and distant markets is determined by Highway, where transporters face losses from crime and many factors in addition to the critical contribution violence, or are reluctant to provide the full range of of women. Larger issues of poor infrastructure have a services that might be needed. Moreover, insecurity is a significant bearing on the quality of produce reaching major concern for those women selling produce in open markets and exporters. These are in turn compounded urban markets. by persistent violence and insecurity along transport routes, which are particularly damaging for women. In addition, expanding certification, and strengthening marketing systems and market linkages for farmers are Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 7 all key drivers of quality. All of these factors, alongside relate to narrowing the gap between work done strengthening women’s key role in quality-defining work, and benefit obtained, and how they support or need to be in place if PNG is to maximize the quality of facilitate greater female participation in family its agricultural products. decision-making over use of income. As this issue goes beyond PNG and these agribusiness supply III. PRINCIPAL chains, the WBG, and notably the IFC, could RECOMMENDATIONS play a catalytic role in promoting gender equity in certification criteria and validation processes. A) Focus on Women as Key to Quality It is estimated that around 5 percent of PNG coffee Incentives: exports are “specialty” coffees, including organic, »» Improve the capacity of women to benefit directly Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and Utz certified. from the income earned in the cocoa, coffee, Certification schemes pursue a range of social and and fresh produce sectors, through a series of environmental sustainability goals. interconnected measures: For the most part, gender issues are not especially (i) facilitate the establishment of direct payment prominent in certification schemes, though systems, where women are supported in opening bank accounts, accessing financial opportunities exist to promote more gender- services, and obtaining electronic payment for responsive schemes. The PPAP baseline survey their produce directly from the buyer, or, in the indicates that 13 percent of households claim to have case of fresh produce, the aggregator; any knowledge of certification (2 percent “strong” knowledge). This is highly concentrated in provinces (ii) support the aggregation of production by cooperatives or associations and groups in where exporters work. Around 8 percent reported which women are represented, thereby taking having certification for their coffee, and, of these, decision-making outside the household, and 1/2 expressed little or no interest in continuing. promoting greater transparency between men and women in the income received and how it Half of the households surveyed were not interested is used; and in paying for certification, a finding which suggests, according to the baseline survey, that the benefits of (iii) support training and sensitization efforts certification are not sufficient to justify paying for it. (including through personal viability−PV− Source: Murray-Prior and Padarath 2013 training) aimed at shifting cultural norms and mind-sets relating to women’s economic contribution. »» Use planned data collection and analysis, notably in the coffee and cocoa sectors − including »» Examine the extent to which certification schemes farmer profiling, time use surveys, and analysis in the coffee and cocoa sectors (Rainforest of economic opportunity in these sectors − Alliance, 4C, UTZ, Fair Trade, Organic) include to strengthen the business case for women’s gender equality provisions in capturing “social” involvement in these supply chains. This in turn co-benefits, including how these provisions should help to underpin prioritization of critical are being implemented, and how compliance infrastructure investments (roads, transport, is monitored. Strengthen the gender focus of storage, cold chain) aimed at raising quality and these certification schemes, notably as they reducing losses in these sectors. Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 8 »» In parallel, support measures to ease women’s economic viability of cocoa nurseries. overall labor burdens in the household, and »» Assess the impact and effectiveness of the “social” measures to facilitate direct sale by women of components of extension messages to provide a produce to buyers, and direct payment (non-cash) baseline and targets against which to measure to women for produce sold. changes in the “socio-cultural” factors that affect agricultural performance and productivity. Key Knowledge and Information: areas to explore would be changes in the benefits »» Support commodity exporters and others in their women obtain for work done (i.e., having a larger initiatives to structure the design and delivery share of income from farming activities) and of extension and training services in ways that changes in burden-sharing for domestic tasks maximize women’s inclusion. Consider adoption within the household. of a specific target (of 30 or 40 percent) of female »» Put in place measures to enable more female participation. Stakeholders suggested establishing extension agents to be deployed in the field. This farmer field schools in cocoa and coffee areas, could be undertaken through: setting up a coffee college for women extension agents, developing women-friendly curricula, (i) improving the overall climate of security and and using new technologies to communicate safety, by reducing community violence, and knowledge and to facilitate women’s access to violence against women specifically; training opportunities. Concurrently, re-focus (ii) expanding the numbers of female extension extension and training messages specifically agents and technicians, including through toward the quality-enhancing tasks for which support to a scholarship/training scheme women are responsible. to build the pipeline of female graduates in »» In the cocoa sector, focus on developing women’s the agricultural sciences for careers in both technical skills and capacities to work in nurseries extension and research; and and bud gardens, and develop this as a possible career path for women toward training and (iii) designing extension schemes in ways that employment as extension agents in the sector. enable people (especially women) to serve as Concurrently, it is important to focus on the extension agents in their own communities, Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 9 where, it is argued, they are more likely to be B) Tackle Gender Differences in Labor safe from random violence. Dynamics »» Consider establishing quality protocols at each »» Gather baseline data on women’s and men’s step of the three supply chains, outlining the involvement in each stage of the agricultural critical steps (and who does them) involved in cycle, including shared and separate tasks, to maximizing quality. Ensure that these protocols provide a basis for examining changes over time in are integrated into extension and training the division of labor. packages, to improve farmer knowledge of quality »» Implement a program to analyze the dynamics issues at all stages of production and processing, of labor allocation at the smallholder level, and and of the impact of quality on the prices they in different regions of the country, including obtain for their produce. addressing evolving market-based and paid vs. Socio-Cultural Dynamics: community and family support mechanisms. »» Assess the impact of PV training, specifically »» Commission time use surveys and research as this relates to improving women’s income- to generate new and updated data on earning and participation in decision-making. If the gender division of labor in each of warranted, support continued PV, or related forms these sectors to inform policy-making of training, aimed at strengthening women’s voice and program design. Such surveys need in the household and the community. to include data collection and analysis of »» Identify, and work with, existing rural-based all tasks undertaken by men and women, networks, such the PV network, or other farmer including domestic work, so that a more cooperatives and associations who have advocated complete picture of the labor uses of men for women’s greater participation in development, and women can be obtained. and support ways (including through PV training) »» Identify, and incorporate into program to facilitate greater burden-sharing between men design, crop-, task-, and season- and women of domestic work. specific labor shortages and constraints, »» Support measures aimed at reducing family and disaggregated by sex, in each of these sexual violence (FSV) in agricultural communities. sectors. Specifically, develop and put in place relevant »» Identify, and incorporate into program measures (e.g., phone banking) that allow women design, region- and farming-system specific and girls not to have to carry cash. Other differences in the dynamics of labor measures include fostering and maintaining strong allocation. partnerships with concerned parties such as »» Address what has been described as “absurd village councillors, village magistrates, the police demands on women’s time” through provision of and the churches, to work jointly to put in place key household-level infrastructure services (water prevention, treatment, social, and justice services supply and sanitation, expanding access to energy aimed at reducing FSV incidence and risk in the at the household level, especially for cooking), and community. labor-saving technologies to women to alleviate domestic workloads. C) Improve Gender-Responsiveness of Key Services »» Build and strengthen market analysis and research capacity in key institutions (notably Cocoa and Coconut Institute, Coffee Industry Corporation Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 10 and Fresh Produce Development Agency). (ii) using these data to strengthen the business »» Identify and develop market opportunities of case for farming and for building associated particular interest for, and benefit to, women. infrastructure, as a means of expanding the »» Identify economically productive activities that productive potential of these sectors; and women could engage in, where priors about male (iii) prioritizing infrastructure investments, control are either absent or much weaker. in ways that support and strengthen the »» Improve the supply of agricultural inputs (notably productive potential of these sectors. seeds, fertilizer, pesticides), in a manner that is consistent and reliable, and that incorporates Cold chain/storage facilities accessible to the development of new varieties of key small-scale producers: products. Establish seed production, storage, »» In the fresh produce sector, support establishment and distribution facilities in the fresh produce of cool storage facilities at key provincial and sector in key provincial and regional centers. central locations, which would be managed by Put in place measures to enable National a private sector company. This company would Agricultural Research Institute and FPDA to provide key support services to farmers, and work collaboratively with the private sector would be responsible for managing the cool in both identifying and meeting the needs of storage facilities and managing all transportation farmers for seeds and inputs that are appropriate and distribution requirements, thus enabling and accessible. Explore agribusiness dealer farmers to sell their produce at the farm gate. This approaches, which would bring retail outlets for approach would have the additional advantage of inputs closer to farmers. considerably shortening the supply chain, from »» Assess the current organizational capacities of the farmer’s perspective, thus enabling women Women’s Groups (including PNG Women in farmers to reap direct benefits from their labor. Agriculture, PNG Women in Coffee, and other NGOs/community-based organizations who are Improved security along transport corridors directly involved in promoting gender-inclusive and in markets: agricultural development). On the basis of the »» Strengthen existing initiatives that are currently in assessment, develop and implement relevant place to address insecurity, for instance, working strategies to improve their overall capacities. with UN Women in the open urban markets in Port Moresby. Key measures to consider include provision of banking and financial access services D) Address Systemic Barriers Affecting within market spaces; providing toilet and Supply Chain Performance child care facilities for women inside markets; substantially strengthening market security Transport system/roads need building/ through adequate policing and provision of upgrading: security services; and facilitating women’s greater »» Of particular importance for the fresh produce participation in market management, oversight, sectors will be upgrading and maintaining existing and decision-making. major roads as well as key secondary roads to »» Coordinate transporting and marketing activities improve linkages between producers and markets. on behalf of women–working with established »» Bring infrastructure development and groups including cooperatives or associations, prioritization into greater alignment with the coordinate the marketing and transporting of productive potential in these three agribusiness women’s produce. This will allow women to sectors. To do this will require: remain where they are, but still sell their produce (i) better data collection and analysis of and earn cash incomes. farming activities; »» Work with existing networks to reduce FSV. To Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 11 this effect, work closely with relevant parties This will facilitate information flows between producers (police, elected Village Councillors, Magistrates and these other actors in the supply chains on input and Churches) to reduce men’s access to alcohol requirements, production schedules, weather and related and drugs. issues, security conditions, prices, market conditions, »» Strengthen community-level capacity to deal with transport links, shipping schedules, and emerging market theft of coffee and cocoa. Specifically, ensure opportunities (for example food provisioning for LNG that communities and local-level government and other mining sites), to strengthen both the operating agencies take ownership of this issue, and efficiency (“push” factors) and market responsiveness implement locally-appropriate solutions, including (“pull” factors) of the supply chain. In so doing, pro- strengthening village courts, building community- actively facilitate the access of women farmers, groups, level government, and providing sufficient and associations to these communications services, and manpower and resources (policing) commensurate provide training and capacity-building in their use. with the need in the communities concerned. This could involve building further on existing collaboration with Digicel in the context of the Broader knowledge and information systems IFC Agribusiness Project. need strengthening: »» Modern communications technology (notably internet and mobile telephony) can be used pro- actively to improve women’s access to critical information and services. »» Establish a Communications Initiative in each of the three supply chains, in partnership: (a) with private sector providers of mobile phone and internet services; and (b) with input suppliers traders, aggregators, shippers, and buyers. References Curry, George N., Gina Koczberski, E. Omuru, and R.S. Nailina, 2007. Foraging or Farming: Household Labor and Livelihood Strategies Amongst Smallholder Cocoa Growers in Papua New Guinea, Black Swan Press, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. Curry, George N., and Gina Koczberski, 2009. “Relational Economies: Social Embeddedness and Valuing Labor in Agrarian Change: An Example from the Developing World,” Geographical Research 50 (4) 377-392. ITC [International Trade Center], 2011. The Coffee Exporter’s Guide, Third Edition, Geneva. Murray-Prior, Roy, 2014. IFC Agribusiness PNG: Monpi Coffee Exports and Monpi Cocoa Exports Baseline Study, Draft Final Report, Prepared for International Finance Corporation, AgriBiz RD&E Services, (mimeo). Murray-Prior, Roy, and Anna Padarath, 2013. Evaluation of the Structure and Performance of the CIC Extension Service, Report prepared for the PNG Coffee Industry Corporation and the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project Coffee Component, Final Report, [Port Moresby], August. Overfield, Duncan, 1998. “An Investigation of the Household Economy: Coffee Production and Gender Relations in Papua New Guinea,” Journal of Development Studies 38 (5) 52-70. WIA [Women in Agriculture]. 2010. Women in Agriculture Report, Document prepared for the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP), World Bank, Washington, D.C. World Bank, n.d. Gender Issues in Smallholder Cocoa and Coffee Production, Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (mimeo). Policy note deriving from The Fruit of Her Labor: Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness Development in Papua New Guinea, World Bank Group, 12