Rob Small's Masters Thesis: Uptake and the success of insect ...

How long do individuals work as farmers or collectors?
The longevity of individuals as farmers or collectors has been shown to be low. In addition
to this only one of the fourteen people who earned an income every year from 1995 to 2002
lived outside of Morobe Province. The low level of longevity suggests that insect farming
and collecting is only suitable to most people for a relatively short period of time. The lack
of suitability of this source of income could be due to a host of factors; farmers and
collectors could have begun other income generating activities, such as Vanilla farming in
the Sepik, which prove to be more profitable than insect farming; farmers and collectors
aren’t receiving enough advice or support from IFTA; farmers and collectors could be
selling to other insect buying agencies such as Wau Ecology Institute (that began buying
insects in 1994).
Has long-term success been determined by location?
The contraction in geographic spread of colleting and ranching indicates that IFTA is
lacking the capacity to maintain regions that lie a long way from its office in Morobe
Province. The only outlying Province that didn’t see an income decline was the North
Solomons. This province actually had the greatest overall growth in income during the
eight year study period. The other remote regions such as Sandaun, New Ireland, New
Britain, Gulf, Western and Manus that have no road link with Morobe had all ceased insect
collecting or ranching by 2002. Even some of the Provinces that are more accessible such
as Central, National Capital District and the Southern Highlands had ceased earning
income.
Thus location does indeed seem to be a factor yet the success of North Solomons shows
that this isn’t always the case. There are two factors that have placed the North Solomons
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