Agriculture ‘in decline’

The National Business
Wilson Thompson

PAPUA New Guinea’s agricultural sector is in decline as statistics for each cash crop from 2009 up to 2023 shows significant drops in production, says an official.
President of the Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association, Wilson Thompson, said despite the 1995 Provincial Reforms, Department of Agriculture and Livestock Structural Reforms in separating functions and strengthening commodity boards, various government interventions (Green Revolution, NADP 2009-2016; Alotau Accord 1 and 2), results still indicated that there was a decline in production from 2008 to 2010, except in the palm oil, that prompted loan funding from the World Bank/IFC for the Public-Private Partnership in Agriculture Programme (PPAP) from 2010 to 2020.
Production and value of exports in coffee and cocoa from 2011 to 2015, period of six years, covered by PPAP showed declining production compared against oil palm and coconut.
“Our research also shows value of exports (revenue) for seven tree crops for 10 years from 2009 to 2018, that can explain how other crops are faring against coffee and cocoa that had both PPAP support as well as normal programs concurrently,” he said.
“Assuming that more nursery developed, training programmes and rehabilitation and planting and replanting of cocoa or coffee was taking place between 2011 to 2017, total value of export in cocoa dropped from K331 million to K246 million and coffee is K460 million to K487 million.
“Coffee export fell from 1,176,000 bags in 2011 to 894,400 bags in 2019. Coffee export revenue fell from K927.4 million in 2011 to K487.9 million in 2018,” Thompson said.
He added that by looking at coffee alone, the production figures were not increasing in line with the numerous financial, technical and other resources that were injected by the national provincial, district and LLG levels.
Thompson said according to the Coffee Industry Corporation, the decline in coffee production was due to the outbreak of coffee berry borer in 2017 and climate change impacts including soil fertility.