Big project for balsa farmers

 GAZELLE MP Malaki Tabar has announced plans to establish a balsa wood processing project in the district to cater for farmers who plant the tree  as an alternative to cocoa and copra.

It follows the decision by balsa producers in the province not to purchase anymore balsa from small-holder farmers.

Tabar said farmers had been badly affected by the cocoa pod-borer and the fluctuation in copra prices on the world market. 

It has forced many to plant balsa as an alternate crop.

He said the plan to establish a balsa processing plant was to ease the economic burden on the people and generate income for smallholder balsa growers in Gazelle, Kokopo and Rabaul districts.

The balsa processing plant will be established at Vunavutung on the North coast road. 

The district will allocate funding towards setting it up.

Companies involved in the planting and processing of balsa wood in East New Britain have refused to accept balsa from the small farmers who have nowhere else to sell their produce to.

Smallholders had planted more than 800 hectares of balsa in the past five years and they are almost ready for harvesting.

Tabar said the project was expected to be profitable and create 56 new jobs.