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THE major PNG rice supplier is said to have imported 33,000 tonnes of short grain rice from southern China last week. Reports say that local supplies are low and prices are expected to rise – yet we’re told that last week’s 33,000-tonne import is to be milled in Lae, then exported to New Zealand and the Solomons.
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GOOD morning. That may be good business for the PNG rice supplier, but doesn’t appear to do much for local consumers affected by the unprecedented drought in Australia, our normal source of rice. The issue of PNG’S rice supply has long been vexatious; very little of what we consume here is grown in our country.
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THE much publicised claim that the major brand of locally available rice is “produced” in PNG is a piece of spin-doctoring. The rice we buy may be milled here and packaged here but most of it is not grown here – it’s imported, normally from Australia.
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GIVEN that PNG spends tens of millions of kina importing the grain each year, import replacement is long overdue. If the importer is finding it hard to keep the volume of rice flowing, that would seem to add further impetus to calls for significant government support for our in-country growers.
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WE’RE mindful of the fact that rice has been shown to be a viable crop in PNG for at least three decades; the largely unsung but ground-breaking work carried out by Taiwanese agronomists, notably in the Morobe province, has proved our country could ultimately grow enough of the grain to meet local demand – and even look to a potential export prospect.
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IT’S time some logical explanations were offered for our signal lack of effort in growing rice – not from the importer and major supplier, but from the Agriculture and Livestock department and from the Minister for Agriculture. We are supposedly in the first few years of a green revolution in this country – where does rice production stand in that programme?
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SHOULD you be running late for work this morning, remember that while the early bird may get the worm, it’s the second mouse that scores the cheese. Cheers!
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– Dee Nesenolis
Editorial