Farming in Papua New Guinea (Image by Google)
Forget about Egypt and India! The most ancient form of agriculture in the world is from Papua New Guinea. Developed approximately 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, it's still the most important activity in the country. About 85% of the population lives from semi-subsistence agriculture.
The oldest evidence for that is in the Kuk Swamp area, where planting, digging and staking of plants, and possibly drainage have been used to cultivate food like taro, banana, sago and yam. Europeans brought from the Americas some plant species like sweet potato, cassava and tobacco, between the 17th to 19th centuries. Other crops were introduced later by the Europeans, including watermelon, orange, lemon, coffee, corn and beans, among others.
The major agricultural products the inhabitants of PNG grow nowadays include sweet potato, coffee and copra (the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut).
The oldest evidence for that is in the Kuk Swamp area, where planting, digging and staking of plants, and possibly drainage have been used to cultivate food like taro, banana, sago and yam. Europeans brought from the Americas some plant species like sweet potato, cassava and tobacco, between the 17th to 19th centuries. Other crops were introduced later by the Europeans, including watermelon, orange, lemon, coffee, corn and beans, among others.
The major agricultural products the inhabitants of PNG grow nowadays include sweet potato, coffee and copra (the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut).
~Ally
RSS Feed