New Guinea, Part 7: Galip nut drives community empowerment and forest conservation

By 2025 the global, edible nut industry will be worth an estimated $2 billion. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the traditional and plentiful staple, the galip nut (Canarium indicum), holds promise of tapping into that demand. Its relative ease of access for smallholder (non-commercial) farms means a new source of income for thousands of farmers across PNG. 

On this episode of Mongabay Explores, we speak with Dorothy Devine Luana, an entrepreneur from the province of East New Britain, whose company grows galip nuts using agroforestry, a farming technique rooted in traditional knowledge that grows multiple cash crops alongside woody perennials.

We also speak with Nora Devoe, research program manager for a special project focused on the galip nut at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). This project has been funding more than a decade of research seeking to understand the viability and potential of the galip nut to drive the canarium industry in PNG and foster new markets for entrepreneurs and locals like Dorothy to sell the crop.

If you missed the first six episodes of Mongabay Explores New Guinea, you can find them via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here. 

Episode Artwork: Tinganagalip Women Cooperative Group Chairwoman Caroline Misiel holds a handful of canarium. ACIAR has been supporting research into the development of a canarium industry in Papua New Guinea. The group has been planting new canarium trees as well as exploring new value-added canarium products they can make such as canarium cakes and scones. Image by Conor Ashleigh.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.

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