Can Central supply shortfall for capital?

 By Clifton Gwabu and Dickson Benny

Central houses one of the biggest fresh produce markets in Papua New Guinea, the ‘Port Moresby market’.  

Yet most of the fresh vegetables, particularly the cooler climate vegetables, are supplied from outside the province. 

The highlands regions grow a range of temperate vegetables; however, supply to Port Moresby is constrained by poor transport infrastructure and inconsistent supply, resulting in a shortfall of 40-50,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. 

If this is the trend, can Central supply the shortfall? The answer depends on a number of factors. Firstly, good transport infrastructure must be in place for the fresh produce value chain to be efficient. The province has five districts, some of which are well connected with good roads. The Magi Highway runs through Kairiku district, while the Hiritano Highway runs through Rigo and Abau districts, with the exception of Tapini, Goilala District. 

The conditions of the feeder roads to where the farmers live are appalling. Located about 1700 metres above sea level, Amazon Bay, Maria Mt Brown, Guari and Woitape are suitable for growing cooler climate vegetables, however, they are not connected by roads. 

With the exception of Tapini, all airstrips in the mountain regions along the Owen Stanley Range have been closed.

The common mode of transporting fresh produce is by Public Motor Vehicles or PMVs. 

A PMV is usually a three-tonne truck with canvas over the metal frame and carries an average of 30 passengers. 

Large numbers of PMVs operate on all the main roads that lead to Port Moresby but not on the secondary and tertiary road network, forcing smallholders to transport their produce, usually in 50kg bags to the nearest main road. 

PMVs transport both passengers and produce, often with the passengers standing or sitting on the bags of produce for up to eight hours on very rough roads. 

Some PMVs help transport the produce to the doorsteps of retailers such as hotels and institutions. A typical charge for a 20-kilometre travel is K2/person and K4/bag. Tapini is 230km by road.  Because of its remoteness, the few PMVs that make the journey (about 2-3 per week) charge K80/person. 

The high demand for travel force PMVs to prefer carrying people over produce. There are no specially designed vehicles to carry vegetables. 

Secondly, well targeted and systematic vegetable production is needed. 

Smallholder farmers buy first generation hybrid (F1) or foundation seeds in small packets that are unsuitable to PNG conditions. These small quantities are relatively expensive so they collect seed from the second year production. 

Foundation seeds revert to their original parental types in the second year, consequently performing poorly, especially against pest and disease. 

This practice is expensive and constrains yield and quality. 

An agronomic research to identify appropriate open-pollinated varieties (allowing seed collection) is being undertaken by NARI at Laloki.

A project titled ‘Increasing vegetable production in Central Province for Port Moresby markets’ started in 2010 focused on assessing vegetable production and value chain.  

Funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and jointly implemented by NARI, the Fresh Produce Development Agency, Pacific Adventist University, Central Province DAL, University of Tasmania and University of Queensland, the project focused on assessing the viability of growing cooler climate vegetables like broccoli, carrots and round cabbages in the mid and higher altitude areas of the province. 

The project assessed tomato and capsicum production for the lowland, 

A market and supply chain analysis had been used to identify these high return vegetable products and to determine the supply attributes required to satisfy emerging consumer needs to form the basis for linking farmers with markets. 

The project worked with the Rigo-Koiari Cooperative Society (RKCS), which has a membership of 220 farmers in 18 villages covering 3000 people. 

This group acquired farm machinery and implements including a tractor, three-disk plough, slasher and disk harrows. 

The cooperative bought consumable inputs such as seed and chemicals in bulk from agricultural supply shops and supplied its members on loan.

The cooperative farmers grow capsicum, tomato, watermelon, cucumber, aibika and pawpaw and supply four large supermarkets and hotels in Port Moresby. 

Apart from successfully growing broccoli, carrot and round cabbages in the area, developing a sustainable fresh produce value chain from Tapini to Port Moresby is feasible.

Having a resident agricultural officer in Tapini is needed to implement training and support production and marketing of fresh produce.

With improved transport infrastructure, good growing conditions, and sources of water for irrigation, Central has the potential to supply the increasing demand for temperate vegetables, if the correct vegetables are selected and appropriate land, soil, water management practices, and agronomic strategies are developed.