Farmers receive help

When the National Strategy for Responsible Sustainable Development (StaRS) team visited Philma Seta Wakeng, a local agriculture scientist, she was the youngest person working with a group of elderly farmers in the garden plots from Hisiu village in Central.
Why? Philma wants to see young people become more committed and help their parents’ plant and grow their gardens in the villages. So much that she spends long hours outdoors to ensure their food crops grow better every day.
Philma studied agriculture at the University of Technology in Lae and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2007.
From the Sepik area, she joined the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in 2011. She was working with farmers to grow food using new farming techniques. Her specialty is growing all kinds of vegetables to suit the climate.
When asked about what she as a scientist wanted to see for the agriculture industry she said, “Personally, I’d like to see the agriculture industry develop in PNG. Progress is on a small scale but I’d like it to see it grow on a bigger scale, maybe one day in the next 20 years or so to feed the nation and the world as a whole.”
And that means getting your hands dirty. Philma spends hours with farmers in the hot sun explaining various techniques of planting and harvesting.
“In terms of sustainability, seed is an issue, how to look after and grow the seeds and maintain soil conditions using various means including mulching. Water is also an issue in most farming areas and farmers now use the new irrigation system called ‘rope and washer,’ a water harvesting technology which is hard work at first but farmers who are serious can use it,” she said.
Philma was supporting a European Union-funded climate change project in five sites in the Highlands, Madang and Hisiu in Central. She said most rural farmers were subsistence-centred so there was need to change their mind sets to adapt to using the simple but new technology to improve farming.
As a PNG EmMi Yah! campaign champion, Philma is helping to bring the principles embedded in the Government’s new national strategy for responsible sustainable development, or StaRS, to life.
The Department of National Planning and Monitoring, created StaRS to be the roadmap to deliver on the promise of Vision 2050.
Please join PNG EmMi Yah! champion Philma in the movement to build a responsible, sustainable modern PNG. Follow the campaign on Facebook or call +675 328 8324. – PNG EmMi Yah and staRS