Appeal for incentives

 A LOCAL businessman from Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, says he is losing up to a million kina every year just to keep his piggery going and has called on the National Government for help. 

Kale’s Food and Vegetable Farm owner Robinson Kale said he spent K1 million every year to train 

his employees and buy feed for the farm.

During a recent workshop in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, Kale urged the National Government to implement incentives to help those in the livestock industry. 

“A million kina annually … this is the amount of money that I see come and go,” he said.  

“When it comes to stockfeed, we buy K100 a bag.”

Kale’s expenses go beyond managing and maintaining the farm for the 500 pigs that he has.

He conducts training for his staff on how to look after the stock and the farm. “If the Government can see the struggles we go through and give us some incentives that can help us, we can use all this money we lose for something else. 

“We need the Government to fund us (farmers). Maybe buy us a tractor or other equipment.

“The respective government departments and responsible officers should come down to the grassroots level and see us … see what is really happening on the ground.”

However, Kale said the 

farmers did not want individual politicians to get involved in their businesses.  

“We don’t want support and involvement by politicians because when we are attached to the politicians things don’t really work out well,” he said.  

He said there was a big demand for pigs and pork products that could generate revenue worth thousands of kina.