Co-operative societies can help economy, says official

ONE of the best economy recovery options for the country is by empowering and encouraging the growth of co-operative societies, an official says.
Co-operative Societies of PNG registrar Stephen Sallun last Friday said they should be used to empower local people to engage more in farming and other economic initiatives.
The policy will be finalised in June or July “and once it comes to play, this sector is sure to have an impact on the recovery of our economy”.
Sallun witnessed farmers from the Chingwan Rice Growers Co-operative Society electing their executives at Mutzing station, Markham district in Morobe last Friday.
“A lot of people are talking about this business but unfortunately there is lack of funding through the Government to support the co-operative office on institutional strengthening and capacity building,” he said.
Sallun said the organisation must grow and hold training programmes for farmers.
“We are happy to say that University of Goroka has shown interest in building the initiative into their university’s programme as part of their curriculum. In the future, we want to see that there are co-operative colleges build as part of the agri-business and co-operative models.”