Investigations about soil deficiency and something for the balsa bashers

One of the things I did this week was visit the Balsa factory, plant nursery near Kokopo.
A significant area of balsa trees are grown in ENB. The balsa wood factory manufactures various types sheet balsa for aircraft manufacture and the marine industries. Much of it is end grain balsa fixed in large sheets and used as part of laminate stucture.
 I went to the nursery to find out what type of they soil mix they are using but also since I use a lot of balsa to see how its grown.
Balsa has "hard seed" like clover, or gorse. So before sowing the seed needs to be scarified (treated in someway) to improve germination. Normally about 25% of balsa seed germinates straight away, the rest over a period of about 5 weeks. To improve uniformity in the nursery, the seed is scarified, in this case heated to a set temperature for a certain number of hours. The treatment improves germination to about 80%, in 6 days but means that the seed, which is moist, needs to be sown by hand. Also at least two or three seeds are sown into each pot, and after germination, "thinned" to one. I observed a lot of pots with nothing germinated after 2 weeks in the germination room. So the scarification technique, while it improves germination, still causes some "wasted" work.

Germination room

After a few weeks in the germination room the plants are put out into a "greenhouse" environment for another 3 or so weeks.
Photos shows trays of plants growing on in greenhouse and stacks of trays filled with soil mix ready for sowing.

Plants are then put out into a hardening area for up to 2 months; total growing time about 4 months.

There is year round propagation and planting going on.  Production cycle for a plantation is about 6 years from planting.
The visit was worthwhile, in other ways, in that I found out who supplies a range of horticultural fertilizers, as well as fungicides and insecticides. It often takes a while to find out who the suppliers are here.
I've noticed that some of the brassica's at the market have hollow stems, a sure sign of Boron deficiency. The observation corresponds with what I've observed on a couple of farms. A brief literature search revealed that Phosphate and Boron deficiencies are quite common in many of the soils of PNG, including the soils of  ENB.
As a consequence I'm going to start recommending to farmers that they use an NPK fertilizer with Boron in it.  The best farmers use fertilizers, many others don't. Much of the land around Kokopo has been used for plantation crops, (coconuts, cocoa, and balsa more recently) for over 100 years. Thus while the soils are volcanic they are usually quite thin in places and a bit depleted. For subsistence growing this is ok, but not for crops that are going to be marketed.

Neli, at the office, has two nieces who are getting married soon. So we've been discussing bride prices and ceremonies. The local tribe (Tolai's) have a matri-lineal inheritance system, with inheritance of land going down through the women in the tribe.
Paying a Bride price is still common. Around Kokopo up to 10,000 Kina ($5,000 NZ) can be paid. In other parts of PNG the bride price can be up to 60,000 Kina, depending on how much education the woman has, whether she has a job, etc, etc.
Extended family are usually involved in providing money for the wedding ceremony, etc. And as in NZ providing stuff to set up home. Food for the ceremony is provided by the brides family. All up the costs seem to be similar to a better wedding in NZ but most of it paid for by contributions from the extended family.

As a treat, a group of us went out to dinner at Kokopo Beach Bungalow Resort. Once a month they have on Saturday night, an Indian smorgasbord.
A night of enjoyable food and catching up on each others time in ENB.  We managed to negotiate that the resort took us back to our house in Seaview, as no PMVs after about 6 pm. A very enjoyable evening and much appreciated!!

Being a tourist

This week has been one of consolidation. I had one of the FPDA guys from Moresby follow up on compost and potting mix; it appears their is none made. So the locals will have to keep doing what they have been doing; using soil in their mixes.  In a follow up on some Agricultural Chemicals we were using in NZ to control DBM, I discovered that while it had been recommended that the chemicals concerned (success and Stewart) be registered for use in PNG nothing was done. I also discovered there are some alternatives available, recommended for use on Cocoa Borer, which has had a devastating effect on Coccoa production in PNG, and around the world.
So the means to control DBM (and other caterpiller pests) is available but many farmers here don't seem to "see", holes in leaves as a problem. Plants from one of the nurseries are riddled in holes. While "organic" pesticides have some control, in a nursery its important that pest control is nearly 100%. Getting people to understand that is difficult.
Today (Monday) is a public holiday in PNG so a long weekend. We decided to become tourists and caught the PMV to the Japanese hospital near Rabaul. It was well worth the effort. A huge complex had been tunnelled out of the rock, five stories high. Kilometers of tunnels. With a hospital and kitchen servicing the soldiers and a tunnel to an observation point looking out over the bay.
There are also a number of barge tunnels, where the Japanese hid supplies and the barges from Allied bombing during WW2. There is a point in the bay (Blue Lagoon lookout) where the sea drops to 300 meters deep, right by the road. The Japanese created a loading/ unloading point for supplies; submarines tied up, unloaded supplies and then they were submerged in the deep water, to hide them.  By the end of 1943 the only way the Japs could get supplies into Rabaul was via submarine.
All around Rabaul and Kokopo there are tunnels and evidence of the Japanese occupation. Locals tell me that the Japs were pretty brutal with the local tribes people, basically using them as slaves and food gatherers. As a result of allied bombing Rabaul was completely flattened and needed to be rebuilt after the war.

Entrance to the caves.

 Marine Supplies store

 

View towards hospital part of cave.

 

Hospital  beds were placed along both sides of the cave.

 Tunnel through to observation point

View from observation point. I managed to get a great panoramic photo of this view using some of the software in my camera.

 
This tunnel is about 200 metres from the sea. The Japs hauled the barges into the tunnel from the coast. The observation point is above this tunnel. The tunnel is built into the bottom of a high cliff, which I think was an old coast line.

The family that owns the land into which the tunnels are formed, runs tours, for people. Noah who runs the tours is hoping to build it into a tourism money spinner but H&S in NZ would have a fit! The family needs to spend a reasonable amount of money to upgrade steps,  hand rails, etc to make it tourism friendly. And put a platform and guard rail at the point where the tunnel emerges from the hill. When you come out of the cave, the drop is several hundred meters to the valley below, with only a small ledge. Then they need to negotiate a reasonable price with the cruise ships that come into Rabaul, during the season; at the moment they are beating him down in price.
Christine: Ladies lunch as usual on wednesday. What a mixed bunch we are - from all sorts of different nationalities. Some discussion re dreams and events that are the effects of sorcery and the best ways to combat what is happening. All very interesting from a multi cultural/multi faith perspective!!There are no sheep in India and what they call mutton is Goat meat. I had to explain to several of the ladies what hogget is.
The trip to the Japanese hospital was interesting. Noah's wife had him making some practical improvements to aid tourists ie: some tunnel tracks are left as is but where the incline is too steep a few steps have been cut in and some handrails have been installed on the way up to the lookout. I think Noah's wife must be yet another 'strong woman' of PNG. I've met a few now.

This wee lass is about 5 months old and loves her cradle - a great use for an old Volley Ball net. She is in the kitchen, safely up off the concrete floor, away from the dogs and 3 puppies, hens and children running around. It catches the breeze and is under the shelter from rain and sun. Perfect.
I trimmed Anton's hair this morning. Hmmmm not as easy as it looks. I'm sure to improve with practice.

Church and Mask festival

Today we attended the local Anglican church for their morning service. The priest died last year and hasn't been replaced, so the locals are running things themselves.  Many of the congregation come from Rabaul, where their church was damaged in the eruption in 1994. The acidic ash from the eruption has made sure what remained of the church, has rusted away.
The service was a bit difficult to follow and seemed a bit ad hoc. Mainly conducted in English with some Tok Pisin; this would probably put a lot of locals off as most conduct their daily lives in Tok. English is not the main daily language, although many young people speak it.

 The fella preaching is a church warden from Lae, who is working in ENB.

Craig a retired judge who lives in Kokopo, took the photo of the congregation. As you can see lots of young people! The guy in white shirt was kind of a worship/ service leader.

The people were very encouraged that we had turned up; "expats" in the church! I had to stand up and tell them why we were in Kokopo and what we were doing. We had biscuits and cordial after the service, while there was an informal discussion about the state of the church building and repairs needed.

The day before we spent most of the day at the Mask festival, which has been on since Wednesday. Saturday was the grand finale, when all the groups attending for the week, performed for the last time; there were nearly thirty groups on the last day. I took many photos but can't put them all up on the blog.
The final act was a group of students from the local Vudal university, performing what they called a Pacific islands dance; an amalgamation from of many tribes and islands. It was a hit for the crowd.

One item everybody came to watch was the mud men dance. It depicts a tribe in the Highlands who were attacked by another tribe, their only escape was to hide in the swamp near a river, until the attackers started to leave. When they emerge from the swamp with mud all over them, the attackers, think they are spirits and run away.

The attackers arrive!

Chase the villagers away.

 Declare victory.

 The Mud men emerge.

Chase the attackers away.

There were lots of booths around the festival grounds, Fresh Produce were going to have a booth until it was decided  Neti and I were going to Lae.

Suzanne, Spence and helpers manned the diabetes screening booth for several days. 

Melanesians, along with many other Pacific people, have a genetic predisposition to Diabetes. as a consequence life expectancy in PNG is low. John the Vice Chancellor of the local university (Vudal), said they had one of their lecturers died last week, aged 52. Dying around early to mid 50's is fairly common; people seem reluctant to change their lifestyles, to get on top of Diabetes. Not many people live past 65 here.
 One problem Susanne faces is the lack of disposables (sterile pricking devices, test strips, etc) used for testing. If anybody reading this wanted to help financially in someway, then I can put them in touch with Susanne! Debbie, Susanne's friend brought some stuff with her when she came from NZ last week but the shear volume of people needing testing, causes supplies to be used up fairly quickly.

I (Christine) enjoyed the church service enormously. The people were very welcoming and ensured we had a rough idea of the format of the service. Some of the service was in Tok Pisin and then translated into English for us. Before leaving NZ I had decided I wanted to find a church that worshiped out of their own PNG culture and was intrigued to see what that would be like. While there was an Anglican format to this service, culture will out!! The songs were hymns and songs of praise but with their own simple (more relevant) words inserted. During communion the bread and wine are taken from the back of the church to the front accompanied with dancing and singing thus turning what can be a somewhat sombre time into one of sheer joy! Lovely! church PNG style!
David (standing in for the priest) has promised to get some of the young people practicing so we can hear more of their own songs of praise.

The guard (Felix) next door went as part of a second vehicle (essential for security) to a logging camp about an hour away. When he returned later that day I took my Tablet (and Iceblocks) outside so he could show me and the House Mary where he had been. It was fascinating to be able to see the trip on a map and on google Maps. The logs are guided closer to the ships by men standing on the logs, then a grab crane lifts the logs onto the ships. Because of the incredible depth of the sea so close to the land the ships pull in just a few meters from land. Maybe one-day we will be able to visit the place for ourselves.
Three new VSA's arrived this week (2 NZers, 1 Brazilian) bringing our numbers to around 18. All very exciting.

Busy two weeks and boat ride

The last two weeks have been busy.

Two weeks ago I travelled around with Alex from Goroka who had come over to check on a number of pineapple plantings that had been established as source material, for farmers to take suckers from,  to plant production blocks.
There are two main varieties of pineapple in PNG. One has very spiky thorns along the leaves which means you have to be careful around the plant, particularly when harvesting, or weeding. The other variety is spineless and has a different, more upright leaf shape.

This is the spiny variety. Area of about 2ha of pineapples. Typical growing area in ENB; three layers of foliage. High trees are coconuts. Next level are bananas, or coco, or possibly young timber trees, last level is the crop itself. The multi layers provide shade and protection for the crop. In this case the farmer is intending to cut down some of the second tier trees for more light now that the crop is established.

Pineapples developing; about 3-4 months from harvest at this stage. Approx 6months for the crop to develop.

Alex, looking every inch the scientist, inspecting the crop and the weeding that needs attending to. Alex is from Goroka (average temp about 21-25 degrees) and found the heat in Kokopo "difficult".
You wouldn't get me into the patch do do anything. There was one guy doing some weeding when we were there; dressed up with protective gear and long socks on his arms to protect himself from the spines- in 32 degrees! 

This what happens when you don't keep up with the weeding and try drastic measures. We had a discussion about the yellowing in the leaves and after some questioning, discovered that the farmers had used Roundup to try and clean up the block, with over-spray damaging the pineapples. Most looked as if they would survive and were growing out of it.

Right at the we end of the week (Friday night, 6:30pm confirmation), I was informed I was going to Lae for 4 days for a workshop, the following week, leaving early Sunday morning. This is how things are done over here! No pre- planning!
The next day; Saturday we had planned to join a "banana" boat trip to some islands about 30 minutes away, with Spence and Susanne who had friends over from NZ for a week.

Unlikely looking crew who wanted to get in the photo while we were waiting for the banana boat to be organized.  Shot taken on the banana boat beach.

The characters going on the trip -waiting while the boatman filled some jerrycans with petrol.
"Sean"(007 fame) is taking the picture, on the left is Spence (aka "Buff"), next is Susanne (aka Goldie), (there is a story about this, I wont detail on-line) Spoiler; Spence likes movies, those with Goldie Hawn, especially. In the back is Debbie and Gary from Tauranga, Mollie in black, on the side of the boat and you-know-who wearing the life jacket. Volcanos at Rabaul, in the background.

The islands are idyllic, although no running water, or electricity. There is a large school on this island which caters for primary school.

Kids jumping off the tree. Gary also tried but from lower branches.

Early sunday morning I'm off to Lae with Neli, for a Fresh Produce Development Agency workshop.
We had to fly Rabaul to Moresby, then Moresby to to Lae. Flight was diverted half way through to Lae. We found out later that some debris on the runway at Moresby had caused the airport to be closed down.
With a bit of effort we managed to get our bags off the plane and we went on our way; into Lae a bit earlier than we should have been. Grant and Debbie on the same flight, supposed to connect to a flight to Brisbane and then to NZ, ended up staying the night in Lae. The catch phrase over here is "expect the unexpected".

Fresh Produce are introducing an on-line reporting system for projects and work is recorded and captured soon after it is done. They've had problems with staff laptops getting stolen, "lost" or "dying" with out the information on them being transferred elsewhere, (Ive been helping Neli with her laptop, as its in its death throes and only 6 years old, dust takes a toll here), all the work recorded on them is thus lost.
FPDA also have a cell phone system, which is being updated, with a menu that has access to their data base, weather forecasts, pest control market information, seed inventory data, etc, etc. Its designed so that simple "old" Nokia type cell phone can use them. Its the only communication system in remote areas. There are no land lines!

I was quite impressed with the system, and it seems to work very well in a country that has difficult communications and where somebody might travel 6 hours to the nearest agricultural "shop" only to discover what they want is out of stock. Vege growers in PNG have been having trouble with seed supply, as the three main stockists don't keep their stocks up to date. The local Fresh Produce Market Authority has bypassed the retailers and become the seed re- seller of choice for many local growers in Kokopo area.

The workshop was one of three FPDA are conducting to inform staff and get feedback on the system. For me it was an opportunity to "network" and meet people from Lae, Goroka and Moresby. Visits to the local market and driving around Lae enabled me to understand the dynamics in a town that has a "cowboy" reputation among locals.
While roads around Lae were very good mostly. The trip to the airport takes nearly an hour because a good portion of it is basically not sealed, and is rutted and full of holes. Trucks or buses travelling the road, have to slowly maneuver the holes and ruts so they hold up the following traffic. So often there is a stream of 4 wheel drives and utes overtaking them on the inside, as well as the outside; it becomes a bit of race track. This road is not only the main route to the airport but also to the highlands. The road has gradually deteriorated over the last 15 years; it used to take about 2-2.5 hours to get to Goroka now it takes about 5-6 hours.
Driving along the road to the airport and seeing the villages and conditions some people live in, causes my heart to go out the locals and the difficult conditions they face in their everyday lives. Most in NZ don't really understand what hardship is.

The photos don't really do justice to the state of the road. I'll never complain about the roads around Kokopo again! 

Finally the view from my hotel room in Lae. About 10 minutes out of the city. Road from here into Lae is a good  4 lane highway. The bit of road on the other side of the silver fence is part of a section of road about a kilometer long with huge ruts and holes, at night you could hear the trucks and buses clattering along the road.                                                                                                                        

I (Christine) enjoyed most of the boat trip and the bruises have almost all gone today (6 days later). The first part of the trip was pretty rough and strong bracing was needed to prevent sliding around the banana boat. Scenery was amazing and it was so good being out on the water. While waiting to set out there were lots of happy families around us spending time at the beach. When we got back about 5 hours later there were a different group of people and a very different atmosphere. I felt uncomfortable for the first time since arriving in Kokopo.

Anton's trip to Lae was so last minute. We didn't have copies of flight times which led to confusion over departure times. Last minute changes were made to Anton's accommodation due to security issues. At least I knew what hotel he was at (posh!) and I insisted he ring me every night. 

Lae has a high population of rascals and a recent outbreak of Polio. Lae to Port Moresby portion of the return home was cancelled on Thursday morning which meant a 5 hour wait at Lae airport and a later flight back to Kokopo. Still, Anton arrived back safely with lots to tell.

I am getting better after a touch of flu? or sinus issues from all that dust! I am skilled at getting rid of ants, mozzies, crabs, worms (long, skinny, black/brown ones that move like greased lightening) and better at thinking of the geckos as little friends. 

I am making so many friends among the locals and the PNV drivers all know where to drop me off. I must stand out like a sore thumb. My frumpy sandals and white legs still raise a laugh among the local children and a smile among their elders. I laugh with them. It is good to see them laugh, they have a very difficult life.

I spent a day out at the Mask festival Wednesday - very colourful with lots of dancing. I took the PNV into the market then walked 15 minutes to the festival. Johannes spotted me walking out on the way back home and gave me a lift - very greatful. 

Three new volunteers arrived this week so it's everyone out to dinner tonight. Always a special time.  

Thinking about potting mix

I spent some time this week making some suggestions for the nursery which the Fresh Market authority are trying to develop, in order to sell plants to the local farmers. One area that needs some development is finding the ingredients to make a consistent potting mix. At present two of the local establishments growing seedlings are using a mix which includes soil, animal manure and sand, which is then sterilized before use. Any locals who want to grow their own seedlings are taught this system but usually stop doing so because of the time consuming nature of the making the mix. Of course sterilizing the mix stuffs the soil micro- organisms. My observations are that inconsistency of mixing is also a problem.
At present there are no ingredients to make soiless growing media in Kokopo. I think that for seedling growing to progress, ingredients need to be found. I suspect that ingredients may exist in Port Moresby, so I'm in the process of finding out if this is the case and at what cost they can be shipped to Kokopo and thus whether a soiless potting mix is feasible here.
On this quest I visited a local farmers training facility run by the Japanese, as they grow their own seedlings and grow all the produce they need to keep the trainees fed. The system they use is basically organic, with no chemical fertilizers, or pesticides used. The potting mix is great and the plants quite healthy but they use chicken manure, which not many farmers have access to. Although the natural pesticide "worked", there were some insect problems but the produce was very good- good enough to feed the trainees but some of it wouldn't be acceptable if it was up for sale.

Students pricking out seedlings.

Beds of veges. The beds are sunken and surrounded by a built up bank so the area can be flooded if necessary. A flood irrigation channel runs from left to right, behind the two guys in the picture. In the background, to the right of the tall grass are beds of rice growing.

Things grow fast in here; 4 weeks in the nursery, then about 6 weeks in the field would be the growing cycle for a cabbage. One thing I noticed was some lettuces growing a bit funny, they reported they hadn't seen this before, although they had stopped growing rice as an irrigated crop because of fertility problems. I suspect the lettuce was experiencing either boron or molybdenum  deficiency, which could be reasonably easily sorted out.

After seeing the lettuce I asked whether they had done any soil tests, or found out what the PH was, the answer was no, and no. I got the impression that this hadn't been considered. Which made me realize that some of the things we take for granted in NZ aren't available easily to farmers in PNG.
There is an Agricultural university, and a National Research Institute (NARI) reasonably close by which would both, potentially have the facilities to do some basic work and help sort out the fertility problems I noticed. But I don't think seeking help had been considered.

 The following is my perspective; Somebody asked us if we were close to the area where there was some trouble; a PNG Air plane was torched last week at Minde airport. That happened in the highlands about 1600 Km away from where we are. I'm not sure how the incident was reported in NZ but the plane was torched as a political statement. The locals in some parts of PNG are feed up with corruption. In this case they had sought a judicial revue of the appointment of the local governor by the current Prime Minister, as there was some questionable stuff going on with the elections that were held last year. A house and a hanger with some light planes in it, owned by the Prime Minster, were torched just after the elections as a warning.
The judicial revue confirmed the appointment of the governor, so the burning of the Dash 8 at Minde airport was a signal to the government. Whether the burning of the airplane is ok depends on your point of view; its lawlessness but how do you stop corruption?
Not long after we arrived here the government suggested they were going to close facebook down for a month. Mainly because some local people had been asking some pointed questions, of the government, using facebook. The decision regarding facebook was soon reversed but indicates government sensitivity to criticism. particularly since PNG is hosting APEC later this year.

I (Christine) attended a sugar diabetes awareness day run by another VSA volunteer. Suzanne does an amazing job here. She works at the hospital in Rabaul and has a weekly radio program which the announcer re-plays again in the evening. Its amazing how people are drawn to her, sometimes recognizing her voice in the street and stop to talk with her about mum, or dad or aunty... They recognise someone who talks sense, cares and has practical help to offer.
The compound we live in has become very busy with new arrivals - Scott the chef this week and next week Christina (?) who will be working on tourism. Sleep is often quite disturbed with people talking, comings and goings, dogs barking and last night lots of rain. Weekends are a time for afternoon naps to catch up on sleep.
I sweep the floor several times a day to keep the ants under control. Any little bit of food dropped and out of the cracks they come! I no longer have any compunction walking on them and they have no compunction biting us if there's no food lying around. Still, I infinitely prefer a battle with ants as opposed to the bed bugs VSA's in other countries are struggling with!
We've had quite a few windy days this week which have been really nice as the wind cools down the temperature from 30/32 to 24/27.