Agmark announces dividend

NEW Guinea Islands Produce (NGIP) Agmark Ltd (Agmark) has announced a dividend payment of K0.0327 per share as an interim dividend for 2021.
Board chairman Donald Manoa noted that many of the company’s 4,000 shareholders were farmers, cocoa growers and cocoa processors from within the PNG cocoa community.
He made the announcement during the annual general meeting on June 24 while commenting on the robust performance of cocoa and logistics divisions of the company last year, and first half of 2021.
He paid tribute to their perseverance with cocoa production during nearly 18 months of the Covid-19 disruptions, leading to significantly increased tonnages of cocoa produced, traded and exported by the company.
According to a market release by the company, timing of the dividend, coming at the start of the traditional cocoa season, was intended to generate further confidence in PNG’s cocoa industry and demonstrated the board’s view that only agriculture in PNG had the potential to maintain employment and prosperity for Papua New Guineans during these difficult times.
“Agriculture does not need fly-in-fly-out management nor does it cause hazardous social contact or needless travel,” Manoa said.
“Agriculture just needs PNG farmers to do as their fathers and grandfathers have done and work the land that God has given them.”