Papua New Guinea has a long history of agriculture with the limited spread of gardening by the altitude, climate, water and the soil.

Foods such as taro, yams, sago and other staples that grow along the coast do not grow well up in the highlands where you can possibly find hills, valleys and mountainsides. In the past, the Highlands areas were good for hunting wild animals for food as well as collecting fruits and nuts, gathering bush materials, feathers and stones for tools. Current evidence by the work of Doug Yen shows that the Austronesian speakers during their migration into Melanesia, brought with them the sweet potato. However, there is no evidence to prove that sweet potato was carried past Polynesia into the islands of Melanesia but instead sweet potatoes were traded into Melanesia by other routes where some were taken by the Spanish and Portuguese into New Guinea. The sweet potato was not an attractive crop along the coast. Therefore, there was no reason to replace taro or yams as the main food crop and also no reason for any drastic changes in society. However, a revolution took place when the trading of sweet potato reached the highlands of New Guinea. Sweet potato production in the highlands is very productive in which it can grow at higher altitudes than taro or yams. With the rise in the production of sweet potato in the highlands, it becomes the staple food for the indigenous people. Sweet potato grow well in dry soils, steep slopes with thin soils and can survive cooler climates. To the people of the highlands of New Guinea now have a new, rich, abundant source of carbohydrates and sugar which set the foundation for a shift in the lifestyles. Not only did the sweet potato change people’s relationship to the land, it also change people’s relationship with pigs and exchange systems. Since sweet potato could be grown in a wide variety of environments, pig herding became more accessible which allow men to have the opportunity to grow pigs, build up pig herds, marry additional wives and enter into large scale exchange systems that previously been limited to a few. To the people
of Western Highlands in PNG, they pushed agricultural intensity to its limits with the production of taro in the swamps. They were relieved at the arrival of sweet potato because it permitted them to open up so many new lands for agricultural production. The introduction of the sweet potato had a tremendous effect on the economic production in the highlands societies. It had a revolutionary impact on people’s lives.

Flora Kageni