Board to fix industry

 By ELIZABETH VUVU

THE country’s cocoa industry is coupled with a number of challenges which the body responsible is trying to address, an official said.

PNG Cocoa Board chief executive Boto Gaupu said these included the cocoa pod borer, declining smallholder productivity, poor transport and market infrastructure.

Others included under funded research and extension, poor access and affordability to credit, law and order and land tenure issues.

Speaking during a field day at Bitagalip, Kokopo, East New Britain, last Thursday, he said the board was working to overcome those issues.

Gaupu said the Cocoa Board continued to progress the industry for the benefit of people who depended on cocoa as their livelihood.

“The Government has come good to Cocoa Board with funding support by granting us the rescue package, PIP projects which include nursery and bud wood garden, post-harvest and cocoa quality, cocoa quality assurance and market promotion and remote area freight subsidy scheme,” he said.

He said through these projects, Cocoa Board anticipates effectively attending to its core business and at the same time effectively addressing the challenges besetting the country.

Gaupu said the future outlook of the cocoa industry in PNG looks promising.

This was significantly due to the projection of one million tonnes short supply of cocoa by year 2020, promotion of certification market, opening up of new emerging markets like China and India, chocolate increasingly becoming useful and worthy for use in cosmetic and medicinal products, highly flavoured (90 %) status of PNG cocoa beans by world standard, cocoa cannot be substituted with other commodities for chocolate making, cocoa fetches higher return to farmers as compared to other agricultural commodities. The 2013 annual cocoa report is expected to be released soon.