Bright future for plantation

 KLIN Wara Plantation, in the Gazelle district of East New Britain, is to have its nursery certified by the Cocoa Coconut Institute (CCI) of PNG and the PNG Cocoa Board.

According to a senior CCI officer Dr Eremas Tade, the nursery has met all the requirements enabling it to be certified.

He said the plantation’s legal standing to operate and sell to farmers remained active since it was certified by Cocoa Board.

He said CCI was in full support of Klin Wara Plantation’s   small block holder Farmer Cocoa Rehabilitation project now being rolled out.

“We will be right behind the project with technical support,” Tade said.

He said the budwood garden at the plantation included some of the 10 best clones CCI released last year. 

He said the clones were the best in the world, producing a “fine” flavour.

Tade said the plantation would be the first in the country to have a certified budding nursery.

He urged the 125 farmers in inland Baining under the new project to follow processes and instructions carefully in order to produce more tonnes than expected.

Tade called on farmers in the province to pick up from where they had stopped in cocoa production since the cocoa pod borer affected production eight to 10 years ago.