On Lihir, gardening is the principal livelihood strategy through which people produce most of their food for consumption, festivities and gifting. Most of the people interviewed in the case study villages own gardens. Despite their island habitat, Lihirians regard themselves as gardeners. Similarly, Foster (1995:113) in his anthropological study of the nearby Tanga Island indicates that gardening constitutes the ideal typical activity for both men and women –
Every married couple make gardens, and gardening makes a man and woman a married couple. Foster suggests that the capacity to garden, and hence feed oneself and others,
demonstrates both personal autonomy and social viability.
According to a clan leader, the practice on Lihir is that garden areas are owned communally. The traditional custom is that communal gardens are planned and organised by clan leaders. The clan leader selects the site, subdivides and allocates the total garden area amongst married couples and unmarried young adults within his clan. The practice allows matrilineal households and individuals to have their garden areas in the same location. The practice contributes to controlling the use of land and also serves as a security strategy against enemies, especially during the pre-history and cannibalism period. An interviewee said: Long
ago when our people were still killing and eating each other, it would be foolish for a family or an individual to have separate garden areas. They would be easy prey for their enemies. Today, garden areas are no longer allocated by our clan leaders; the tendancy is that people are moving onto area on their own will to making gardens.
Preparation of a garden normally would involve initial clearing of a block land which is communially owned through their matrilineal clan system. After three to four weeks, the dry debris is burned. Unburned debris is removed before holes are dug for planting yams and
mami. Traditionally, labour in gardening was distinctively shared between men and women.
The men cut the forest, remove the logs and branches, dig up the soil, cut and erect stakes, and build fences, while women plant and carry out the general husbandry tasks. Both men and women harvest when the crops are ready. However, women interviewees indicated that since the exploration phase of the mining operation during the 1980s most of their time is taken up in gardening and doing some of the tasks traditionally done by men. This is especially
in the mining operation. In one occasion, the author observed a group of women building a fence around a garden. Fencing is a task normally executed by men in a Melanesian culture.
There are two main types of gardens on the Lihir Islands, these are discussed below.
3.5.1 Home Consumption and Feast Gardens
According to a key informant, allocation for gardening is normally divided into feast and home consumption gardens. Land regarded as fertile is allocated for the growing of yams and
mami intended for feasts, although small-sized yams and mami harvested from these gardens
are used for household consumption and feed for pigs. Planning, preparation of the site, planting and staking of yams, maintenance and harvesting of feast gardens are done communally. The communal work is done either by clans or close relatives within cluster of households. In contrast, land regarded as less fertile is set aside for food crops intended for home consumption. The crops include stands of yams and mami, mixed with sweet potato, cassava and vegetables.
3.5.2 Traditional Bush Fallow
The traditional bush fallow system of gardening, which worked for many years under low population densities, appears to no longer sustainable. As expressed by an interviewee from the Kunayie village. Every individual household tends to have separate gardens in separate
areas. This is causing land shortage. Another interviewee said: We used to rest our garden sites for 3-5 years, now it is about 6 months to 1 year. Some people from Putput and Londolovit villages who have lost their gardening areas under the mining operation are also gardening in our village. People from Malie Island are also gardening in our gardening land.
These concerns are consistent with a study by Baput (2003) on the farming system on Malie Island that indicates extreme pressure on land for gardening. The study indicates that yields on Malie had dropped seriously within the previous five years. Even in the absence of scientific evidence, people are observing declining yields from their gardens. The following comment from an interviewee further depicts the declining soil fertility stemming from short fallows: Our yams and mami harvests are no longer plentiful. We used to get 10 or more from
one planting stand, now we are only getting 2-3 per stand. Our gardens areas are over used.
If the declination of employed Lihirians in gardening and the declining yield of yams from the gardens are any indication, production of yams and other food crops might be at risk. As a result, overall food security will also be at risk.
Figure 3.2: A Yam garden on Lihir Islands