Coffee building SMEs: Official

MANY people are successfully going into Small Medium Enterprises with coffee, Eastern Highlands deputy provincial administrator Ipae Maniha says.
“All stakeholders in the coffee industry, from farmers to exporters, must unite and cooperate to promote, market and grow the industry,” he added.
Speaking at the one-day coffee festival in Goroka on Thursday, Maniha said the festival was needed to showcase the growing importance of coffee for Papua New Guineans and the country.
He said coffee was introduced to Eastern Highlands in the 1930s and had since become the number-one revenue earner for families, the province and the country.
Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) general manager industry operations division Steven Tumae said coffee earned foreign currency for PNG and it was a renewable resource that was responsible for solving cross-cutting issues.
“In the coffee festival, stakeholders of the coffee industry will partner with each other to develop and grow the industry,” he said.
Tumae said Eastern Highlands was one of the largest coffee growing provinces in PNG and coffee made many millionaires in the province.
“Today, CIC is promoting and encouraging farmers to form cooperatives to market their coffee and get good value for their money.”