By JASON SOM KAUT
THE Morobe provincial government and the National Development Bank (NDB) will set up a cocoa export company with local farmers as the main participants.
Under the set up, cocoa producers would be exporting their produce through the company.
Richard Maru, NDB managing director, handed over the land title of the old Kesu plantation to the provincial government last week for parcelling out to qualified cocoa growers who will be provided with small loan capital by the bank.
Beneficiaries of the cocoa plots which are located at a plantation at Situm just outside of Lae will be given individual land titles.
“The NDB is the little people’s bank and we are pleased to hand the title over to the Morobe government … we look forward to phase one of the project,” Mr Maru said.
“We are looking at setting up a Morobe cocoa export company … it is high time,” Mr Maru revealed, saying the people of East Sepik had already established four cocoa export companies owned by the people while Morobe is now ready to follow suit.
“We congratulate the Morobe government for the foresight in acquiring the land and its commitment to support the (cocoa) farmers,” he said.
Mr Maru called on the stakeholders to come up with a model which the bank could support.
Mr Zurenuoc said: “It is the Morobe government’s priority to develop the rural economy and help the people become self-reliant to wean them away from National Government’s assistance.
“We are excited over the prospect of setting up a Morobe export company and are working towards that … the purchase (of the property) was a stepping stone to achieve this,” he said.
The provincial government had acquired the title after completing the K400,000 payment for the property.
Mr Maru also revealed that the provincial government had now a whole new micro-finance division that could issue more than K1 million in loans for cocoa growers.
The bank also plans to promote co-operative societies next year by organising a workshop for stakeholders.