Agriculture
The PNG agriculture commercialisation and diversification (PACD) project has received US$40 million (around K140 million) in funding from the World Bank. Jane Sprouster, senior operations officer for the World Bank PNG and Pacific Islands, said the project would benefit and assist 20,000 farmers. Sprouster added that she hopes it will allow them to reach commodity targets set by the 2021 to 2023 agriculture medium-term development plan. “The World Bank’s global
PNG’s National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA) recently launched its first ten-year biosecurity policy. The policy will run from 2022 to 2032 and aims to ease trade within Papua New Guinea, conserve biodiversity, and allow for commodity imports. The general director of NAQIA, Joel Alu, has said the biosecurity policy would act as a springboard for the authority and the agriculture industry. He hopes it will result in regulations
The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, John Simon, has said agricultural activities in Papua New Guinea could help the country achieve economic independence in five to ten years. Over 80 per cent of people in PNG live in rural communities, and Mr Simon said that about 90 per cent of them were involved in agriculture. He said the government and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) wanted to help
The PNG Prime Minister James Marape recently declared that East Sepik should become the global capital for vanilla production and an international cocoa hub. East Sepik is Papua New Guinea’s leading grower of both vanilla and cocoa. The region is already one of the world’s major vanilla producers – the World Bank estimates it will soon rank second-largest internationally after overtaking Madagascar. PNG’s cocoa is also rated among the best
Dr Nelson Simbiken, the chief executive officer of the Papua New Guinea Spicy Industry Board (PNGSIB), says there is potential for corruption in the spice sector. Consequently, he wants to review the PNG Spice Industry Act of 1989 over the next couple of years and establish an authority. Dr Simbiken said, “The spice industry board currently has to become an authority, so it can generate money for the government. Instead
Nobuyuki Watanabe, the Japanese Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, has said that since 2003, the Japanese Government has spent K19.2 million supporting rice farming in Madang and East Sepik. Mr Watanabe said, “K11.2million was funded in the first phase of the promotion of smallholder rice production project from December 2003 to November 2008. Another extension of K8 million was later funded in the second phase of the project from December
Jerry Kapka, the board chairman of the Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd (CICL), has stated that the increased levy on green bean coffee exports is reasonable. The levy has risen from 10t to 20t per kilogramme of coffee. Mr Kapka said, “The increase is not same as 10t administrative levy. With the current scenario facing the coffee industry, the board has seen the need to have a reserved funding source assigned
Ambassador Jernej Videtic has said that the European Union would be willing to support Papua New Guinea with its forest reforms by providing hundreds of millions of Kina, training programmes, and more. Ambassador Videtic was talking at the PNG Forest Authority’s workshop, which celebrated the International Day of Forests 2022. He said that Papua New Guinea was under threat from climate change and stressed the importance of the country’s forests.
The Centre of Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) in Port Moresby. Saliya Ranasinghe, CEFI Executive Director, and Charles Dambui, CIC Acting Chief Executive Officer, signed the MoU, allowing the two organisations to partner in the rollout of a program designed to improve financial literacy and inclusion to coffee farming communities. Coffee farmers will learn how to make
Dr Lino Tom, Papua New Guinea’s Fisheries Minister, described the signing of the Trade Protocol Agreement with China as a success. The agreement relates to the export of Live Marine Products to the Chinese market, and the signing took place during the Fisheries Sector’s trip to China. The minister added that the trip to China, with Prime Minister James Marape, was also successful. Minister Tom said, “We successfully signed the
