P.Engee*

“Here on Earth. A New Beginning“ is the title of a new book by an old friend of PNG, the Australian of The Year and award-winning scientist, Tim Flannery. In it are some kudos for PNG when he states “the first agriculture in the world was probably in Papua New Guinea, 10,000 years ago, earlier than the Fertile Crescent or China. It was based on taro and banana and probably was the most productive, supporting the highest rural population densities on earth.”

So in all this hype about LNG and mineral resources, let us not forget our rich history. PNG’s past was rooted in agriculture and its future should be as well.

Oh, and did we forget to mention that the two most widely planted varieties of sugar cane in the world originated in PNG. Maybe they knew then something the current farmers in the Ramu Valley do not know now.