Cocoa bringing in good income for growers, says farmer

COCOA production is bringing in a good income for growers and sustaining families, a local cocoa farmer and fermentry owner from Wampar in Morobe says.
Haren Sinare, from Munum village in Huon Gulf, who along with other farmers transported bags of dried cocoa beans for sale in Lae on Friday, said cocoa was one of the main cash crops that was giving them a good return.
Markham is currently the leading cocoa producer in Morobe with many local farmers owning fermentries.
Some have taken steps to acquire export licenses.
Sinare said he used to purchase K1,000 worth of wet cocoa beans from local farmers and when processed, it would give him three and half bags of dried cocoa beans.
These bags would earn him K1,500 or more depending on world prices.
“I have seven blocks of cocoa and other villagers also have theirs,” he said.
“The production rate for us is high but is usually affected during rainy periods.”
He said depending on the production rate, when it was high, he usually made 20 bags of dried cocoa beans in a month and which netted him a minimum K6,000 or sometimes more.
He said farmers from his area had only received training on cocoa management, from nursery to producing dried beans, recently when cocoa dealer Outspan reached out to them.
“They have also instilled in us skills and knowledge on how best we can manage our fields as well as on the production of dried beans.”