John Tyman's
Cultures in Context Series
Torembi and the Sepik
A Study of Village Life in New Guinea
PART TWO:  FOOD PRODUCTION
Topic No. 8: Cash Crops and Livestock
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112. Traditionally the purpose of gardening was to provide food for the family involved.  Its objective was subsistence, not income ... though men with surplus food to give away could improve their status by doing so.  In some parts of New Guinea, however, cash crops grown for sale have recently been introduced as a sideline to local food production. (Vegetables at Sunday Market)
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113. In Torembi people who want to make money are turning to coffee.  It is grown in small clearings, not much bigger than a vegetable garden, under lines of specially planted shade trees. 
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114. They have machines now to remove the outer skin from the beans … a job previously done by hand.
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115. There are problems, however, which cannot easily be solved …  including inevitable variations in the quality of the product when you have many small producers. 
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116. It is also difficult to transport the crop to market.  Most coffee gardens are distant from the village along forest tracks, so the beans must be carried out in sacks.
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117. Coconuts are not grown for sale here, as they are on the coast.  Instead they are a local foodstuff, readily available in all villages … to those able to pick them.
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118. The main obstacle in the way of commercial farming, however, is not the risk involved in picking coconuts, or even the difficulty of marketing coffee.  It is the land tenure system… that is, the way in which the land is owned in New Guinea.
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119. Instead of land being owned by individuals, land here has always been controlled by clans; and each clan's territory is linked to particular ancestral spirits.  Clan members can use clan land, but they do not own it, the clan does.
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120. This was not a problem when forest gardens were abandoned every year, as the family involved had no lasting interest in the land.  But coffee and coconuts are perennials.  This means they are not replanted annually but grow for many years: Any man who takes the time to establish a coffee garden, will therefore want to have his ownership recognised. 
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121. As a result, conflicts are common within communities over the demands made by individuals for exclusive use of what has until now been common land.  Private enterprise of this type is foreign to Papua New Guinea, and many young people seeking to enter the cash economy give up in frustration, and leave their crop to rot.
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122. Diets at Torembi have traditionally been dominated by foodstuffs rich in energy-producing carbohydrates. Domestic animals help satisfy the need for protein, but on a small scale … pigs especially 
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123. They spend the day rooting for food in the forest, but come home to be fed in the late afternoon and are penned up at night. They eat an awful lot of sago, as well as garden produce: but they still don’t provide a regular supply of meat.
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124.  Instead they are kept as pets, and also to show off …  since a family with many pigs is considered to be important here. They are killed only on special occasions.
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125. There are plenty of chicken here too; but, like the pigs, they have only a small impact on the local diet. The hens produce a few eggs, but provide very little meat.
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126. The possibility of using the grassland for beef production has been investigated locally and there was a small herd in Torembi 3. However, with little opportunity for individual land ownership, there are few fences, so the cattle wander all over the place and get into people’s gardens.
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127. Lastly, there are a lot of dogs.  They don’t do anything … they just lie around all day and howl all night! But because they are of little practical value they live dangerously, are treated harshly, and sometimes eaten.
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128. Cats, in comparison, lead a charmed life.  They have a job to do, controlling rats, and no-one would dream of killing one.


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Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, 2010.
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