CIC to help rehabilitate run-down plantations

THE Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) will be facilitating the rehabilitation of run-down blocks and plantations for the first time.
Chief executive officer Charles Dambui announced this on Tuesday in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, when signing an agreement between two lead partners under the World Bank-funded initiative: Coffee Industry Corporation Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Projects (CIC-PPAP).
“The agreement signing signifies the start of a household survey to be carried out by the Coffee Industry Corporation to identify the number of households and the required labour or input to rehabilitate coffee blocks and plantations,” Dambui said.
The two lead partners are Jacob Taru, of Agro Dev Trade Ltd based in Western Highlands, and Nathan Gomae, of Ipalgu and Gomena plantations in Eastern Highlands.
Taru is currently working with 605 blockholders in the Dei Council and parts of Jiwaka in reviving 20-30 hectares of rundown blocks that are subdivided into manageable 4.5-hectare blocks.
Gomae owns a 90-hectare rundown plantation in Goroka.