Policy making at independence was characterized by a plethora of interpretations of how the Eight National Aims for a more equitable, self-reliant nation with Papua New Guineans taking control of the economy might be put into practice. In the agriculture sector, a dominant policy issue was the desire to achieve greater self-sufficiency in food. Politically, urban consumers seeking to reduce the price of fresh food, particularly in Port Moresby, drove the pressure for domestic production of root crops, fruits and vegetables for sale in the urban areas. This pressure led to demonstrations in Port Moresby in 1974. Policies to support this aim therefore had to contend with the inherent conflict of stimulating production while keeping prices down in urban areas.

In keeping with the Australian tradition of local autonomy, the fresh foods ‘policy’ was generated largely in a series of papers prepared as an individual initiative by a DASF officer appointed as national coordinator for fresh food marketing (McKillop 1981, 245–7). The National Executive, in response to the demonstrations in Port Moresby, hurriedly approved a Fresh Food Project (FFP) in 1974. There was lavish expenditure on marketing and storage facilities and the FFP promoted the concept of centralized warehouses and the establishment of some fifty large-scale farms to supply the fresh food needs of major urban centres. The approach undermined the operations of existing food-marketing organizations that were then emerging in the provinces and drove them out of business. Having achieved this dubious outcome, the FFP then encountered funding problems and the venture folded after incurring high financial losses. The basic policy issues of food production for urban markets remained unresolved. There was no assessment of whether the objective was to encourage urban development through low food prices or rural development by supporting higher prices for producers, while the action of the government in controlling the market and thereby undermining local marketing organizations was simply ignored.

The saga of the FFP provides an example of an ongoing theme in Papua New Guinea policy making. While the rhetoric of politicians might give voice to the claims of rural areas, the actual allocation of resources remains heavily biased toward urban areas.

In terms of food security, the major changes since 1870, and especially after 1940, centred on the introduction of new food crops into Papua New Guinea farming systems. New root crops, banana types, maize and peanuts had extended growing periods and increased land productivity by independence. Enhanced access to cash income, primarily through cash crops, also enabled rural households to improve their food security by purchasing food when local supplies were in short supply. However, the rhetoric of food self-sufficiency also brought political pressure to grow cereal crops, primarily rice, to replace imports. Since the nineteenth century, German, Australian, Japanese and national government administrations had promoted rice to provide an easily stored, easily transported and convenient staple food. Despite large investments and subsidized inputs, these efforts have been unsuccessful as the returns to farmers have not been attractive compared with traditional root crops or introduced cash crops. Despite these failures, the 1975 Food Crops Conference called for investigations into the cost-benefits and acceptability of cereals for human consumption (Willson and Bourke 1976, 13–17) and heavily subsidized machinery was provided for the remaining rice growers in the Bereina area, west of Port Moresby.