Maria Linibi’s work supporting more than 20,000 women farmers across Papua New Guinea has been recognised through a significant global award in 2024.
Linibi is the recipient of the 2024 Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) Excellence Award, recognised for her exceptional professional success in disaster risk reduction and represent the expertise and experiences that are needed to find solutions to understanding, preventing, and reducing the increasing disaster risk in the most disaster-prone region of the world.
Linibi hails from PNG’s Highlands region,and is the daughter of a coffee farmer; as a young child, she used to help him with the crop. Now as the head of the Papua New Guinea Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (WiADF), Linibi is a champion of climate-resilient farming systems. She works across a wide spectrum of stakeholders, from traditional leaders to research institutions, to promote indigenous crops and low-cost irrigation and agroforestry systems that mitigate the impacts of drought.
And she has done this by putting the needs and solutions of women first, and working in one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse nations on the globe.
While living in Morobe Province, Linibi came to farming relatively late, at 38 years of age, after being retrenched from her government job. Her specific achievements are too numerous to list but include securing funding for the installation of solar rice mills for women farmers and the installation of solar water pumps, which provide irrigation and potable water while relieving the burden on women who previously carried 20-litre containers of water up to 20 kilometers.
Linibi is an advocate and broker, sitting at the centre of a vast network of people, information and opportunities, and connectingpeople in her networks with opportunities and resources. An exceptional leader, she also sits on the Board of the Pacific Island Farmers Organisation Network (PIFON).
While much of Linibi’s work is on the ground, in farms and villages, she is also a powerful advocate on the international stage as a representative of Pacific women farmers at the Policy Dialogue on Women in Agriculture and Fisheries at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Asia Pacific Regional Conference. Her presence in these spaces has ensured the voices of Papua New Guinea and Pacific women farmers are heard and addressed at the highest levels of decision-making.
But it is in sharing fellow farmers’ successes that she finds most joy—whether it is a farmer receiving their first payment for a new crop to a group venturing into agri-processing or an entrepreneur launching their first agri-business.
“Empowering women farmers and amplifying their voices in policy discussions is not just about improving agricultural practices; it’s about creating a more equitable and resilient future for all.”
Linibi adds: “The role of women in agriculture in nation building is very critical at this stage, because agriculture is the backbone of this country. For women farmers, don’t give up; we are getting there. We are fighting for markets for our produce, we are fighting for subsidies for air freight costs, so that we can sell. In the end, they will see that we are empowered.”
Farmers at the frontline of climate change
Small-scale family farmers like those supported and led by Maria Linibi produce a third of the world’s food and are on the frontline of the climate crisis. However, they receive just 0.3% of international climate finance to support adaption to this crisis. Family farmers are pioneering the solutions needed to tackle the climate, nature, and food crisis, yet are sidelined by governments and overlooked by funders.
The Pacific Islands region is already experiencing significant climate-related challenges which will intensify in coming years. Threats include extreme weather events such as floods, landslides, droughts, cyclones, and storm surges, which are becoming more frequent and severe. These events have devastating effects on agriculture, infrastructure, and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas where communities are heavily dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods.
Communities in more remote locations, who live in less productive environments and are part of more marginalised groups, including women, are even more vulnerable. Climate change directly threatens their food security, livelihoods, and overall resilience.
Pacific Farmer Organisations (PFO), a regional farmer organisation network based in Fiji with a regional office in Hawaii, seeks to address these vulnerabilities by empowering Farmer Organisations to support their members to adapt to the changing climate and enhance their resilience. Small farmers make up a majority of the Pacific population and Farmer Organisations are ideally placed to support them to respond to climate change.
In March 2023, PFO launched its Climate Resilient Farming (CRF) Framework with key development partners. It aims to protect and enhance the livelihoods for Pacific farmers by helping them adapt to the threat of changing climate and natural disasters. The framework has three interrelated pillars: Climate Resilient Farming Households, Farmers’ Voices, and Stronger Farmer Organisations.
This initiative is the result of many years of advocacy and influencing work by PFO and its members to have farmers’ voices heard on climate change and resourcing for adaptation. PFO’s CRF framework has been developed over the last ten years as the Organisation has expanded and developed, with specific financial support from the FO4ACP program. This work has seen PFO and its national members to participate at COP28, participate at multiple regional and global climate events, and publish papers on the role of farmer organisations and climate change.
With access to climate finance, farmer organisations can help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change through low cost adaptation strategies such as agroforestry, soil conservation, crop nutrition management, and other practices.
The CRF framework is being resourced by the European Union, Australian Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.