Flood destroys food gardens, affect villagers

Papua

By SHARLYNE ERI
FLOODING in the Brown River in Kairuku-Hiri district of Central has washed away food gardens, according to a local from the area.
Max Bauai, from Iomare 1 Village told The National that more than 2000 people were still affected to date by the tragedy.
He said most of the garden crops were washed away and the villagers were surviving on what they had gathered from their last harvest.
Bauai said that most of the villagers had fled to Port Moresby and were assisted by relatives.
Bauai also added that garden crops where their main source of income for most because most villagers were unemployed.
Bauai said that because of the destruction by floods, markets within the city which had been supplied by the villagers, especially the Gordon Market would experience a decrease in the volume of garden produce.
“We usually supply the city with greens (leafy vegetables) but our gradens were destroyed by the flood. So starting from this week onwards there will be no greens supplied from Brown River,” Bauai said.
Bauai who usually supplies companies such as City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) Group, Tolukuma Gold Mine and Super Value Stores (SVS), said the flood has really affected his business.
Bauai said the flood was as a result of continuous rain in the area which lasted for the whole of last month.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service has confirmed that January and February would be the peak of the wet weather which is currently being experienced.