Vital for agro sector to grow

HUNGER and poverty could beset the country if the population continues to grow as the agriculture sector growth declines, East New Britain province governor Leo Dion has warned.
Speaking on Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of OISCA Rabaul Eco Tech Training Centre in Warangoi, governor Dion said the Government must do more to halt the decline of growth in agriculture.
Mr Dion said the agriculture GDP growth was currently at 1.7% compared to the population which is growing at between 2.5% and 3%.
“To feed a rapidly growing population, agriculture development must be intensified,” he said.
This would not only feed people but help to pay school fees, health services, and head taxes. We have to be serious about this because 840 million people remain impoverished in the world today,” he told hundreds of people attending the celebrations at Warangoi outside Kokopo.
He commended the national government for adopting a food security policy to counter the adverse growth rate, but added that more needed to be done to get rural farmers and young people dropping out of school involved in farming ad food production.
The governor said in ENB, an agriculture development plan was being formulated to counter poverty and hunger, and he praised OISCA for assisting in training and equipping young people to be involved in food production and be self reliant.
OISCA Rabaul was set up 20 years ago by late Martin ToVadek to assist students who could not go on to high schools or tertiary institutions, get into farming.
It is a private school and takes students from all over the country, some of whom go to Japan for further skills training.
Governor Dion said the ENB provincial government recognizes the importance of OISCA and will continue to support it annually in the budget.
He said agriculture is the backbone of survival for 85% of the population, and contributes 15% of PNG’s annual export revenue, and praised OISCA for playing a key role in developing a vital sector.