Call for intervention

AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister John Simon says the Government wants to see an increase in coffee production by at least 20 to 30 per cent this year and sustained increases thereafter.
Simon said this at the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) during a recent visit to its Goroka headquarters in Eastern Highlands.
Simon said the industry needed the right intervention to get things back on track that would trigger investment to increase production from its current 56,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes or more.
“During these trying times, the agriculture sector could turn the economy around through exportable commodities,” he said.
“Close to K100 million each is required to increase coffee and cocoa production.
“This must be captured in the Covid-19 package to assist short to medium term intervention strategies such as rehabilitation exercises and/or providing incentives for farmers in this critical time to increase coffee and cocoa production.”
CIC chief executive Charles Dambui said the industry needed active coffee producers to increase production among other obvious setbacks.
“Our biggest challenge is to get the productive population into active coffee farming and create attractive incentive packages for them to fully participate,” he said.