Cocoa society opens nursery

THE Situm-Gobari (SiGo) Cocoa Cooperative Society in Morobe received 25,000 seedlings last year to revive cocoa farming in the area under the support of the PNG-Australian governance partnership.
Its nursery was opened yesterday in Situm and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Finance Minister Sam Basil MP, Communications Minister Koni Iguna, Nawaeb MP Kennedy Wenge, Australian High Commission minister counsellor Andrew Egan and Australian consul-general in Lae Paul Murphy attended it.
The seedlings were given last year to engage men and women in the area to revive cocoa farming as a source of livelihood and economic growth in the
Cocoa farming was severely impacted by a cocoa pod borer outbreak in 2017.
The seedlings were supplied by the PNG National Agricultural Research Institute (Nari) in East New Britain to enable seedling tilling in the newly constructed nursery.
Cooperative members are third and fourth generation settlers who own blocks of land in the area.
SiGo Cooperative deputy chairman Margaret Storr said the nursery project had given members an incentive to stay in their community to generate an income rather than seek work in Port Moresby.
“I used to dream of purposefully using my land but lost motivation when nothing was happening here in our community,” she said.
“I haven’t left my community since we started the cocoa nursery project and am settled now and ready to build a future for myself and my 18-year-old son, who
helps in the nursery when I need him.”
“Thank you to all partners for helping simple communities like ours to be in a position to drive change and to enable economic means for our people.”
Ali Simbi, the chairman of SiGo Cooperative, said the collaborative effort of the community and members was not only reviving cocoa in the area, but also enabling the people to have a voice in community issues and local development.
“We are now seeing strength in numbers and what the community can achieve together from collectively working in the nursery to have equal participation of men and women in community affairs and activities,” Simbi said.
Egan said: “Australia is committed to improving local economic and community development in provinces and districts, especially in rural areas like Situm-Gobari.”
The project is part of Australia’s support to PNG’s decentralisation agenda to improve service delivery, economic opportunities and community development in provinces and districts.
Nawaeb is one of six priority districts under the partnership, others being Mul-Baiyer-Lumusa in Western Highlands, Talasea in West New Britain, Nuku, Sohe in Northern, and Manus.