Weekender

Many coffee farmers in the lowlands of Papua New Guinea do not get as much attention as their arabika-coffee-farming brothers and sisters in the highlands and the hinterlands of some coastal areas. It’s time for that change, and this story will give you a different perspective of coffee farming in the lowlands.  

By CORA MOABI
IT is Tuesday May 23 and we start our journey just after mid-day to Division Two in the Angoram district. The bad condition of the road makes the trip difficult, but we get there – four hours later. While many people in East Sepik would rather plant vanilla than cocoa, longtime didiman Thomas Ainero is confident that our rough trip will be worth the trouble if we can encourage coffee farmers to stay the course and not switch to cocoa or vanilla – or even oil palm.
We are accompanied by the Momase chairman for smallholder’s coffee growers’ association, Jerry Anisi, another coffee ambassador for Maprik.
Angoram district is a sleeping giant in terms of cash crop development because of its large population and abundance of land.
Thomas tells us that the low price of coffee is discouraging farmers.
“The current factory door price per kilogram in Wewak is K1.20 for parchment coffee and the lowest it could go is 80 toea.
What is currently getting farmers on their feet is the current vanilla price, which is going for K700- K800 per kilogram in Maprik and Wewak.
The Coffee breeding programme on Omuru 1 carried out by Coffee Industry Corporation’s research division began in 1994 and concluded in 2000 at the Omuru substation near Madang town. Nine lines of Robusta clones were trialed and CIC recommended Omuru 1, with PN91, PN94 and PN96 varieties attaining the best yield and quality.
Thomas owns a hectare of Omuru 1 robusta coffee seed garden and sources cuttings from his central pit nursery.
The central pit nursery was established in 2010, and he has been able to distribute more than 20,000 cuttings to farmers in Angoram, 12,000 cuttings to farmers in Maprik, 6000 cuttings to Dreikikier and 1500 to Wosera/Gawi.  The income helps pay church groups to maintain the nursery.
He said his desire has been to keep coffee production going in the Angoram district. The robusta cuttings are being sold to farmers for only K1 each. “I am always doing awareness and encouraging them to see me to collect cuttings to plant.”
Three nurseries – one each at Angoram, Dreikikier and Maprik – were set up in 2008. However, because of funding and logistical issues, the Angoram nursery is the only one that has survived.
Before the vanilla boom in 2006, there was no coffee coming out of East Sepik. When the vanilla prices made a downturn, the Coffee Industry Corporation introduced coffee cultivation and group marketing into areas in Angoram, Dreikikir, Wosera/Gawi, Yangoru and Maprik.
Beginning with only four cooperative groups in 2006, a total of 19 tonnes of green beans were sold. By 2008, that had increased to 26 cooperatives and 124 tonnes of coffee. Today, there are 55 groups and they have made East Sepik the leading robusta producer in the country. For farmers like Thomas, the challenges are undeniable.  From low factory door prices to transportation costs, farmers struggle on, even when the province is experiencing a hike in vanilla prices.
Jerrry Anisi, the chairman of the smallholder coffee growers’ association in East Sepik, said that last month he saw vanilla being bought in Drekikiera for K1000 per kilo – a slap in the face for coffee growers.
Robusta farmers make up five percent of the total coffee production in PNG, with the top producers coming from Ambunti/Drekikier, Maprik and Wosera/Gawi.  East Sepik’s annual production for the past 10 years has averaged 1459 bags of green beans from more than 800 farmers.
At a meeting of coffee farmers in Maprik last Thursday, the majority called for the establishment of a central dry mill in Maprik. They said this would ease the problem faced with transportation into Wewak. Currently, farmers wait between four and six months to get paid for their green coffee beans.
Patrick Biahicga, a farmer from Maprik, said taking his coffee from Wamsok to Saunes is a trip of between four and six hours, and further on to Wewak costs around K15 per bag.
“We desperately need good roads and bridges to make things easier for us.”
Pacific Agro Limited is the only company that processes coffee from smallholders in East Sepik, and farmers have been using their services for the past 12 years.
Dr Nelson Simbiken, the CIC principal entomologist and team leader for Integrated Farming Research Systems, was in the province last week with Omuru substation manager Philip Puke to visit nursery pit gardens in Angoram and Maprik and meet farmers.
Dr Simbiken has praised the efforts of the East Sepik farmers, saying that their interest and perseverance are a message of hope for the industry. CIC, he said, will be supporting them with incentives to boost what they have started in the form of integrating complementary projects such as honeybee farming, galip nut trees and central coffee nurseries. The first shipment for 600 galip seedlings is expected to reach East Sepik next week.
Galip nut will be integrated with robusta coffee as a shade tree and in return farmers could compliment their coffee earning with the nut which can fetch between K20-K30 per kilogram. In addition to that, CIC’s freight programme assisted in the purchase of a Toyota truck in 2015 to help farmers take their produce to Wewak. The programme is also paying upfront fees to Sepik Coastal Shipping Agency to take the coffee to Lae.
The programme will continue as an incentive for farmers.
Elders in Wawat in the Angoram district have surrendered 64 hectares of their land for nursery development. CIC chief executive Charles Dambui has expressed his gratitude to farmers in East Sepik for continuing to believe in coffee when times are hard. “These are the coffee champions in East Sepik and West Sepik provinces.”
He said the farmers’ concerns have been noted and plans are underway to   make things better. He has also asked provincial and district administrators in the province to help.