Food Systems Development: The Necessary Paradigm Shift for a Healthy and Sustainable Agrarian Transition, a Case Study from Bougainville, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Classical agricultural development paradigms prioritise basic requirements such as agronomic, caloric and economic needs for the target environment and for beneficiaries. As challenges associated with climate change, globalisation, and population growth compound and amplify one another, project scope must be broadened to take a holistic food systems approach that includes sociocultural and historical contexts, as well as climate impacts as underpinning project design. In this paper, we illustrate the importance of adopting a food systems development paradigm rather than a classical agricultural development paradigm through a case study in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. The case uses Rich Picturing, targeted and focus-group interviews, and garden visits in remote Bougainville; it provides a poignant illustration of the importance of this more holistic perspective given the historical inefficacy of food systems development, as well as Papua New Guinea’s exposure to a plethora of compounding environmental, social, economic, and political stresses and shocks that demonstrate the important linkages between ecosystem services and health. The study aims to demonstrate how including localised gender dynamics, climate vulnerability, rapidly morphing social norms, and climate analogue environments is critical in building food systems resilience and is key to designing policies, programs, and development projects that more effectively address environmental, sociocultural, and health considerations. Building on the inadequacies in agricultural development efforts previously documented for Papua New Guinea, we propose an improved framing for food systems development and identify areas for future research.