Cocoa firm gets K450,000 loan

NEWLY-established cocoa company, Eseem Agro Export Limited (EAEL) in East Sepik has been given the licence by Papua New Guinea Cocoa Board to export cocoa bean directly overseas.
However, having obtained the export licence does not mean EAEL is a fully-pledged exporter and it desperately needs working capital for mobilising and acting for on the interest of participating cocoa growers and fermentary owners in the province.
Last Friday, its quest for direct export without involving middlemen because reality when the National Development Bank (NDB) loaned it K450,000 as working capital.
NDB managing director Richard Maru presented the cheque to EAEL directors witnessed by fermentary owners and cocoa growers in Port Moresby.
The loan under the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) as working capital to purchase dry beans following the completion of the new fully equipped warehouse at Kaindi on the outskirt of Wewak town.
Maru said the loan to EAEL was consistent with the government policy of empowering indigenous citizens to create wealth for themselves and their rural cocoa growing communities.
He said NDB had a mission to fund more local processors and exporters to gain increased markets share for foreign owned exporters, not only in the cocoa industry but all other agriculture export commodities.
“It is clear policy direction of NDB to support our own indigenous citizens to enter and compete in the processing and exporting of our own agriculture commodities,” Maru said.
“There is no justification for continual foreign involvement in this important sector in our agriculture industry.
“After our natural resources are gone, we will be left with our and the agriculture.
“It is imperative, therefore, that we must totally own and benefit entirely from all levels of the value chain of various agriculture commodities,” he said.
He said: “Unless we downstream our agriculture commodities, the true winners from the sweat of our people are the foreign processors of our cocoa and coffee in to the final consumer products.
“We must seriously consider further processing of our coffee and cocoa into final end products for niche markets if we are going to maximise benefits from our own agriculture commodities that our farmers sweat and toil the land for,” he added.
The loan is repayable on a quarterly basis for up to five year.
There are five fermentary owners who are also growers among the 10,000 growers.