Feeding the Household, Growing the Business, or Just Showing Off? Farmers' Motivations for Crop Diversity Choices in Papua New Guinea

Understanding farmers' reasons for growing diverse crop portfolios is essential for supporting the conservation of agricultural biodiversity to foster social-ecological resilience and conserve crop genetic resources. In this paper, Q methodology is applied to examine the motivations for growing diverse crops among semi-subsistence rural farmers in Papua New Guinea. Various types of farmers are identified including so-called 'marketer-consumers,' who are highly motivated by crop sale, and 'exhibitionists,' who prioritize the 'show' values of crops. This approach can be applied to better target programs seeking to conserve crop diversity and promote new crop varieties in regions undergoing rapid transformation. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.