Agriculture wilts as govt attention dries up: Abel

By LUKE KAMA
DEPUTY Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel says agriculture has suffered because of the lack of attention given to the sector by the Government in terms of resourcing and support.
Abel was at the launching of a project to establish a model rice farm for seed production and downstream processing at the Pacific University Campus outside Port Moresby on Friday. It is a partnership between the Governments of Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.
He said the country had been enjoying a good revenue flow from the proceeds of the extractive sector – mining, oil and gas extractions but had ignored investing in sustainable sectors such as agriculture and tourism.
Abel said the current government wanted to correct those mistakes and invest the proceeds from the extractive sectors to developing the sustainable sectors, especially downstream processing.
“One of the testament of the support to our agriculture sector by this government is the downstream production of dairy milk in our country at the Ilimo Farm outside Port Moresby.
“The concept of public private partnership is working very well and we are encouraging other industries in our sustainable sectors to venture into downstream processing,” he said.
He said the Government now had a clear strategy and vision for the country and was giving priority to agriculture starting with the downstream processing of rice.
“This is because rice is now becoming a staple food for most Papua New Guineans and we can’t continue to depend on imports,” Abel said.