Cocoa adds K300mil to economy, says Allan

BY JEFFREY ELAPA
COCOA contributes K300 million annually to the country’s economy, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Benny Allan says.
He said in his 2016 annual report that cocoa was a lucrative rural-based agriculture commodity which made a big contribution to the gross domestic product.
Allan said in 2016, Papua New Guinea produced 37,871 tonnes of cocoa, 7 per cent higher or 2445 tonnes more than the previous cocoa year.
He said most of the cocoa was exported, bringing in a total revenue of K340 million.
This was 21 per cent higher or K58.9 million more than the previous year.
Allan highlighted the significant progress made in downstream processing, with 33 tonnes of the total produce processed domestically by Paradise Foods Ltd.
Lending to women entrepreneurs under the National Development Bank’s women in business segment increased by K9.3 millionin 2017, among other achievements.
Allan said the Cocoa Board had embarked on a district cocoa nursery project, aiming to have a nursery in each of the cocoa districts to assist farmers to increase production.
This is also aimed at eliminating disease by centrally coordinating all activities from nursery to planting, harvesting and production.
Allan said they had established 79 main nurseries in each project site, 21 of which were satellite nurseries to support quick distribution and supply of cocoa seedlings.