Call for marketing chain

By PISAI GUMAR
PAPUA New Guinea, as a country, lacks a fresh food marketing chain and requires an establishment of a central body to manage and coordinate from producers to supply provincial and inter-provincial markets, says a senior agricultural official.
National Agriculture Research Institute (Nari) director Dr Sergie Bang said there were various farmers, agencies and companies involved in the fresh produce supply-chain and marketing, but at individual levels.
Dr Bang said with fresh food production and marketing chain, it involves various agricultural agencies, farmers, transport and shipping sector to supply local markets apart from hotels, motels, supermarkets, shops, hospitals, schools, mining sites, and other areas.
He said PNG had the ability to feed itself and that needed to be developed particularly, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Food security, we rely on ourselves and we must utilise our ability to help ourselves during such times,” he said.
Dr Bang said the challenge had showed that a national agency was needed to take the lead in crafting a uniform structure that united all agencies and stakeholders in food production and the marketing chain.
He made the comments in light of the 14-day lockdown followed by the two-month extension of the state of emergency (SOE) which had resulted in urban residents experiencing a shortage in supply of fresh foods in supermarkets and local markets.
He said the new agency would set up consolidation and deconsolidation depots in all provincial centres to work with farmers at the farm-gate to freighting fresh food to and from markets using trucks, chillers and dry containers.