IFPRI Blog / Issue Post / August 25, 2020
IFPRI’s objectives in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are to strengthen data collection and analysis to inform policies on rural food system resilience, food security, and nutrition. IFPRI implemented a household survey in 2018 (download published dataset here), and we are now gearing up for a larger survey that will provide insights on rural household food systems across the country. Once the COVID-19 pandemic is better under control, we will return to PNG to launch this new survey, which will collect data on household characteristics including food production and consumption, and associated food prices, to inform future rural development strategies.
We’ve traveled to the highland, lowland, and island areas of PNG to better understand how food systems vary in different parts of the country:
Challenges
Unconventional units
Gracie Rosenbach
Differences in measuring food consumption and sales
IFPRI has been working in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for the last several years — we’ve covered a lot of ground!
In order to further investigate differences in consumption, marketing, and price behavior in food markets, we teamed up with PNG’s Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), National Statistical Office (NSO), and Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA).
Partnerships
We worked with the National Statistical Office (NSO) to understand how prices and quantities are being measured by government agencies. We went to Koki Market in Port Moresby with the NSO Consumer Price Index (CPI) team to learn about how they collect and manage price data throughout the country.
Each week, NSO collects price information in 8 markets across the country in order to compute the CPI. They bring a scale and weigh 4 different “bunches” of each item in order to calculate the average price per kilogram of a specific set of produce in each market for the week.
We collaborated with the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) in Goroka to understand how they are collecting price information on selected produce. They collect weekly market price information to inform farmers via cell phone text messaging of the current prices of food items. With this information, farmers know what prices to expect when they reach the market, helping them to make more informed decisions about where, when and what to sell. They have a similar methodology for collecting prices and related quantity of heaps and bunches as NSO.
We also visited households in different provinces to better understand how they measure the amount of food they harvest, sell, and consume to help us to accurately collect data and appropriately analyze household consumption and expenditure.
We learned about the challenges and opportunities of agricultural production and development in rural and remote areas in PNG. We talked to community members to understand how households decide what to grow, consume, and sell in different places and contexts around the country.
Markets look different depending on location and type of market (formal town market or roadside market).
Additionally, prices vary from day to day depending on the season, and also from hour to hour as sellers lower the prices at the end of the day before returning home.
Following earlier work by Gibson (2005) and after working with the NSO and FPDA, we decided to integrate photos of pre-weighed, different-sized food items in our digital household questionnaire.
In order to create these photos, we purchased a comprehensive set of different-sized food items and bunches at the market. We then weighed and took pictures of each item or bunch next to a standard-sized item (a Coke can) as a reference.
Now, each survey question on food consumption is accompanied with a digital photo of a pre-weighed
food item in various sizes
of individual units or
bunches.
We continue to work with our partners to expand data collection and analysis in PNG.
In our upcoming survey, we will pair the food consumption data discussed above with questions on household characteristics (e.g. education and migration), income sources, access to services, and indicators on child health and nutrition to provide insights on household livelihood and resilience strategies throughout PNG.
IFPRI will continue to work with NSO to support the CPI team to integrate their weekly price data into a digital data collection and management system. Through this partnership, and in collaboration with FPDA, we plan to produce quarterly food security bulletins to provide information about potential fluctuations in the price and supply of food goods in different locations throughout the country.
Together, the household data from the IFPRI survey and the market data from NSO and FPDA will provide essential information to help policymakers and
their partners implement policies
and programs to achieve greater
food security in Papua New Guinea.
Measuring household consumption accurately is crucial to understanding food security and resilience in rural communities. By adding up the total cost of food consumed plus other non-consumable items (such as clothing, furniture, and so on), we can proxy total household income. Additionally, we can sum the total weight of food items consumed to estimate calorie consumption, which helps provide information about food availability and diversity.
However, it is very challenging to precisely measure quantities of food produced and consumed, and their associated prices. For example, households frequently report their consumption in unconventional units such as “bunches” or “heaps,” which vary in size and price.
A bunch or heap of sweet potatoes or carrots can look (and weigh) very different at various households and markets across the country.
Produce size, bunching, and price also differ by region, market type, and time of day. We worked to find ways to overcome the challenge of accurately collecting food consumption data by understanding the approaches of our partners, visiting farms and markets, and exploring innovative data collection techniques.
Working with NSO
Working with FPDA
Farm Visits
Market Visits
When visiting markets in each town, we saw that not only do the prices and types of produce vary from province to province, but so does the market infrastructure.
Innovative Data Collection
When the enumerators visit each household to implement the survey, they will show these picture aids to the survey respondents so that they can more accurately approximate the amount/size of the food that their household consumed.
Since we already weighed each food item unit, we can better estimate the kilogram amounts (and calories) of food consumed by each household.
Next Steps
Emily Schmidt
Research Analyst, IFPRI
Research Fellow, IFPRI
• Autonomous Region of Bougainville
• East New Britain Province
• National Capital District
• East Sepik Province
• Eastern Highlands Province
• Madang Province
• Morobe Province
• Western Highlands Province
• National Capital District
• Autonomous Region of Bougainville
• East New Britain Province
• East Sepik Province
• Eastern Highlands Province
• Madang Province
• Morobe Province
• Western Highlands Province
• Autonomous Region of Bougainville
• Autonomous Region of Bougainville
• East Sepik Province
• Madang Province
• Sandaun Province
• Sandaun Province
Previous photo
Next photo
Previous photo
Next photo
Previous photo
Next photo
Click to view picture aid example
Data collection in a
diverse and complex
food system
Previous photo
Next photo
Acknowledgements: IFPRI’s work in PNG continues to be supported by the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets, led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
A bunch or heap of sweet potatoes or carrots can look (and weigh) very different at various households and markets across the country.
Produce size, bunching, and price also differ by region, market type, and time of day. We worked to find ways to overcome the challenge of accurately collecting food consumption data by understanding the approaches of our partners, visiting farms and markets, and exploring innovative data collection techniques.
We continue to work with our partners to expand data collection and analysis in PNG.
In our upcoming survey, we will pair the food consumption data discussed above with questions on household characteristics (e.g. education and migration), income sources, access to services, and indicators on child health and nutrition to provide insights on household livelihood and resilience strategies throughout PNG.
IFPRI will continue to work with NSO to support the CPI team to integrate their weekly price data into a digital data collection and management system. Through this partnership, and in collaboration with FPDA, we plan to produce quarterly food security bulletins to provide information about potential fluctuations in the price and supply of food goods in different locations throughout the country.
Together, the household data from the IFPRI survey and the market data from NSO and FPDA will provide essential information to help policymakers and their partners implement policies and programs to achieve greater food security in Papua New Guinea.
We continue to work with our partners to expand data collection and analysis in PNG.
In our upcoming survey, we will pair the food consumption data discussed above with questions on household characteristics (e.g. education and migration), income sources, access to services, and indicators on child health and nutrition to provide insights on household livelihood and resilience strategies throughout PNG.
IFPRI will continue to work with NSO to support the CPI team to integrate their weekly price data into a digital data collection and management system. Through this partnership, and in collaboration with FPDA, we plan to produce quarterly food security bulletins to provide information about potential fluctuations in the price and supply of food goods in different locations throughout the country.
Together, the household data from the IFPRI survey and the market data from NSO and FPDA will provide essential information to help policymakers and their partners implement policies and programs to achieve greater food security in Papua New Guinea.