Revitalizing PNG

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The island nation struggles with infrastructure and consistency, but the government is keen on a coffee fix. Once done, roasters will have a lot to be excited about as Papua New Guinea returns as a specialty coffee mainstay.

By Josh Doyle

Until the early 2000s, Papua New Guinea was a formidable producer of quality coffee. The island’s ideal mix of soil and climate helped it consistently export mountain-grown arabica with the bright acidity and clean, complex flavors that specialty coffee drinkers sought – then things took a downward turn.

Between 2010 and 2016 the country experienced an 11% drop in production from a high of almost 1.5 million bags, according to Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access (PHAMA). Serious questions about quality began to plague the region, leading to lower prices for coffee exports. Annual exports have since fallen below one million bags. Exports are now under 1% of the global total. Foreign earnings that once approached a billion kina ($300 million) in 2011 have declined as low as $90 million.

The region’s tropical climate and rich soils remain a fertile bed for the high-grade A-grade beans suited to today’s specialty buyers. Demand for that quality is stronger than ever in the US, Germany, Japan, and Australia, so what was behind the crash?

Papua’s coffee troubles

According to coffee development consultant Andrew Hetzel, co-author of the PHAMA report, most of Papua’s coffee problems lie in a transition from large, centrally managed farms, to small independent growers.

“By 2010, much of the estate land was claimed by or otherwise redistributed to smallholders operating independently Hetzel told STiR coffee and tea.

Smaller farming is less efficient than centrally run operations. They’re less adamant about fertilizing or replacing aging trees. As a result, both quality and productivity have taken a hit. “No lack of demand exists for the quality of days past,” Hetzel asserts. The challenge is in getting thousands of farming families to follow best agricultural practices, he said.

Papua’s specialty coffee industry recently began showing signs of life. Certified coffees are seeing a rise in volume, with groups like Fairtrade Certified (FLO), Rainforest Alliance and UTZ  (now merged) working with growers to produce certified organic coffees. Export revenue is rising.

The trouble is consistency. Without central control, quality varies widely from farm to farm. As the PHAMA report points out, certification programs are important to the region’s success, along with improving grading standards and introducing cupping and roasting challenges to excite the imaginations of coffee producers.

The potential is there but tapping that potential depends on applying quality farming practices across the country.

Education those working small farms to consistently bring high-grade beans to the market is largely a matter of demonstrating best practices.

Some 400,000 families in Papua rely on the coffee trade, plenty of local growers are willing to learn. This is buoying hopes that PNG coffee will make a comeback as a unique origin that will pique the interest of specialty drinkers in European and North American markets.

A bumpy road to success

The majority of coffee in Papua is exported to Germany, the US, and nearby Australia. Its output is small, especially compared to neighboring Indonesia, the fourth largest coffee producer in the world. Indonesia, which produces 10 times more coffee, experienced devastating flooding and landslides last year, reducing coffee exports by a fifth to 500,000 metric tons, which benefitted Papua.

Infrastructure remains a big challenge. Poor roads and a hilly, jungle-covered landscape make shipping difficult, creating complications in logistics that frustrate buyers. Another roadblock is crime. The high rate limits how coffee producers can operate, creating adding costs for security and potential losses from only operating during daylight.

Here to help

The government is keen to remove roadblocks to what could be a thriving, sustainable coffee industry. Policy changes are under review and outside organizations are entering Papua to help growers improve their product and educate local growers.

The power of Papua’s women is also being tapped. Women in PNG are responsible for most of the quality-dependent tasks in coffee farming, and yet they earn only a fraction of the men and have little control over process. Investing in women’s farming groups and educating them could be key to changing the industry and getting quality up to where it should be. 

Papua is still a tribal country, its people speaking some 800 different languages. This is partly why coffee cultivation is dominated by small ‘gardens’ as opposed to large-scale farms, and why regulation has been a struggle. Papua’s government is strongly committed to make coffee a sustainable business for their people which is encouraging the specialty market abroad as well. When it’s done properly, coffee grown in PNG sits among the world’s best. It would be a shame to continue wasting that potential.