Farmers get opportunity to sell produce

Youth & Careers

The people of Baining in East New Britain can now earn an income by producing and selling cash crops in their own villages, thanks to the United Nations Developments Programme (UNDP).
Until recently, the Arabam, Raigel and Maranagi (ARM) people along the Baining mountains depended on subsistence farming for survival and could not afford to transport their garden produce to sell at markets due to the bad road conditions and lack of access to vehicles.
The support came from UNDP’s Global Environment Fund partnering with Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA) and other partners through the OISCA- ARM Natural Rainforest Conservation Project.
The project primarily aims to protect the forest and conserve native species of unique wild dogs found along the Baining mountains, but has branched out to support cash crop farming, where families are given opportunity to grow and sell moringa products, peanuts, cabbage, cocoa and rice in the villages around Baining and Kokopo market.
OISCA, an international non-profit organisation from Japan, is working along with the Baining people focusing on
community and human resource development.
With the OISCA- ARM Natural Rainforest Conservation Project, people are able to cultivate their own rice, cocoa, peanuts and moringa.
“We are starting to see some big things happen as a result of UNDPs involvement,” OISCA-ARM Natural Rainforest Conservation Project coordinator, Raymond Joshua said.
Over one tonne of rice is milled monthly and sold for K4/kg within the community of over 500 people. Cocoa and moringa cuttings are distributed to each family unit within the community
around Arabam, Raigel and Maranagi.
Joshua said the project worked with growers from the farm to the market to ensure they grow, sell and make money from their products.
“We are not just introducing and then leaving it to them to find markets,” he said.
“We are actually introducing and working on the product until we get the final product out in the market.”
Since the introduction of the project, Joshua said more interest has been shown by men, youth, women, children and people with disabilities in taking crops to new markets.