Agency secures K85mil loan for agro project

By CLARISSA MOI
THE Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) has secured K85 million from International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) for its Markets for Village Farmers project, says general manager Mark Worinu.
He told the media yesterday that the fund was not a grant but a loan negotiated by the Government through the support of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) to make markets accessible to fresh produce farmers.
The six provinces chosen for the project are Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Chimbu, Eastern Highlands, Morobe and East New Britain, especially for galip nuts.
“The agreement has been signed and the project has been launched,” Worinu said.
“Tomorrow (today) we will be having a first project steering committee meeting in Goroka.”
Worinu said DAL secretary, deputy secretary and all stakeholders would be attending that meeting to deliberate on recruitment of key staff.
“The project has already been implemented,” Worinu said.
“Next year we will be in full swing. This is a very-important project charted out to transform the food and horticulture industry in the country. “This is obviously a very important support for the livelihoods of our people. The Government has done the right thing by negotiating on behalf of DAL and FPDA to o secure this very-needed funding, which will run for the next five years starting in 2019 and will take another five years to effectively complete.”
Worinu said part of the funding would look at supporting the galip nut industry which had some work done by National Agriculture Research Institute (Nari) and Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (Aciar in East New Britain.
“This project will ramp up the good work that has been done by Nari and the Australian partners,” he said
“In terms of the fresh produce, farmers have always been struggling to secure markets because they (farmers) are small holders.
“They don’t have the capacity to be able to attract markets or take the produce to long-distance markets.
“This particular project will look at making markets available for all our farmers so we achieve quality, we achieve consistency, in terms of supply to local markets and also bring key market players very close to the farmers.”
Agriculture and Livestock Minister Benny Allen said the funding was to assist village farmers.