200 growers get disease-resistant cocoa seedlings

MORE than 200 farmers in remote Garaina of Bulolo, Morobe, will venture into cocoa farming.
The Morobe Cocoa Board has set up three nurseries for them and distributed 51,000 pest-resistance cocoa seedlings last September and again last month.
The nurseries are located at Omora (Gaure), Garaina station and Garasa in the Garaina Valley of the Waria local-level government area.
The 255 farmers were given 200 seedlings each.
Board field officer Amon Amenu said the first distribution of 10,000 seedlings was at the Gaure nursery in September last year.
The second lot of 41,000 seedlings was distributed to farmers at the Garaina Station and Garasa nursery last month.
Amenu said the 51,000 trees could produce around 255,000kg cocoa wet beans per harvest.
“That (harvest) can be processed into 416 bags of dry beans which would bring an income of K124,800 to farmers at an average price of K300, excluding freight cost,” Amenu said.
“If the partnership programme for cocoa development continues in the district, we would open doors for farmers earning more income with diverse farming practice.”
Coffee is currently the main cash crop in Bulolo.
“Cocoa can be cultivated as an alternate commodity crop,” Amenu said.