Cherry trade ban awareness praised

THE owner of a dry coffee mill in Eastern Highlands has thanked the Coffee Industry Corporation for conducting a cherry trade ban awareness.
Jack Gasowo owns the Mitega coffee mill at 7-Mile outside Goroka town.
He said it was for the benefit of coffee growers who should support it by reporting illegal coffee traders.
“The awareness is changing people’s mindsets in my community,”  Gasowo said.
After the awareness campaigns, a man from Asaro said he received more from selling green coffee beans.
Memba Ambo said after watching the awareness banning people from selling and buying cherry coffee, he sold his green coffee bean and was seeing a big difference in his income.
He said the awareness taught him to stop selling cherry coffee as there was no one to buy it.
Gasowo plans to help small farmers process their coffee to green beans so they could earn more.
“That is how I see it and preparation needs a lot of hard work. But the bottom line is that farmers have to be rewarded well for their hard work,” he said.
“People know about the cherry trade ban but they continue to ignore it and sell to get fast money.”
The five restricted provinces are Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands Jiwaka, Southern Highlands, Chimbu and Enga.