Bank helps city farmers with seedlings, fertilisers

THIRTY-SIX people who farm and sell fresh produce in Port Moresby have received fertilisers and seedlings, thanks to the National Development Bank (NDB).
The group from Eastern Highlands, are registered as the Apo market fresh produce association.
NDB acting managing director Aaron Underdown said the bank believed in helping small business people in the informal sector enter the formal sector.
The association members received 36 fertiliser bags and 144 packets of cabbage seedlings and merchandise from the bank yesterday.
Apo market fresh produce chairman Maso Oguna said they had been farming the land for so many years.
Oguna thanked Underdown for recognising farmers, such as himself, who appreciated the support. “We have here a prime example where NDB can make a difference,” Underdown said.
“These farmers have been on NDBs doorstep for over 30 years in rain, wind and sunshine and a great example of work ethic.
“These farmers plough the land right next to the NDB head office and plant food crops then later sell their produce at the roadside market along the Somare Crescent Road at Waigani.
“Cultivating the crops and trading their products to people in the government buildings around us including NDB.”
He said the bank wanted to assist and move hard-working Papua new Guineans from the informal to formal sector, thereby, providing potential funding to grow their business.
Underdown also urged them to establish bank accounts with either NDB’s Savings or Loans Society or with their subsidiary the People’s Micro Bank Ltd