Cattle farm established in Jiwaka to meet demand for beef

By JAMES GUMUNO
A new cattle farm has been established in North Waghi district, Jiwaka, to meet the growing demand for beef in the province and nearby provinces.
The new farm, located north of Milep High School, is a subsidary company of Waghi Food Processors Ltd owned by Robert Mundi.
Project manager Fred Hann said on Saturday that they had 100 cows and two bulls in the new farm.
Hann said that they started the farm early this year.
Another 100 cows are yet to be transported up from Markham Valley in Morobe.
Hann said that since there was no grass for the cows to graze, they were waiting for grass now grown on a 20-hectare piece of land before bringing them up.
He said the company was buying grass in 20kg bags from people, at K2 per bag, and planting them them at a farm.
Hann said two company’s vehicles are going fulltime around the nearby villages buying grass.
Another 40 people are working fulltime at the farm planting grass.
He said that by June this year, the farm would have enough grass and would bring the other cows up from Markham Valley.
Hann said that the next plan was to build an abattoir at the site and supply fresh beef to supermarkets.
He said that they would also sell to people who wanted to buy them for parties, bride price ceremonies or compensation payment.
“We are seeing people travelling down to Markham Valley to buy cows,” Hann said.
He said after two years, they would open up for business and people would go to them and buy cows.
Hann said that the company had already spent K1.2 million buying land, cattle, horses, fencing and labour.
He said the new cattle farm would create employment opportunity for more than 60 locals.
Hann said apart from cattle, the company was also engaging in fresh water fish farming.
He said the company had 12 big ponds filled with common and golden carp fish, which would be sold to hotels and supermarkets.
Hann said that they would also venture into trout farming.