Coffee seedlings ready

ABOUT 40,000 coffee seedlings are ready for distribution to gardens in the mountains of Simbai and Kovon in Middle Ramu, Madang.
Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project is the coffee component of the Coffee Industry Corporation.
According to PPAP, this was an initiative of CIC’s industry rehabilitation under call 2 proposals in partnership with the Diocese of AipoRong – Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea.
The seedlings would be distributed from the main nursery at Kaironk village following a field visit by a team of CIC-PPAP officers last month.
The officers flew into the area on a MAF flight from Mt Hagen and walked for almost 13 hours over three days from Dusin airstrip to meet the farmers after spending two nights in two villages.
“This is your future. Plant it, look after it and the coffee tree will look after you in return,” said Richard Alepa of CIC-PPAP.
These seedlings would replace old coffee trees as part of coffee rehabilitation efforts to help some 877 farmers taking part in coffee rehabilitation in the area.
A field verification exercise was also conducted with farmers who expressed satisfaction with the CIC-PPAP intervention to revive their coffee gardens with benefits like distribution of tools at a subsidised cost.
Project manager Potaisa Hombunaka said coffee remains a significant source of income to keep the people here out of absolute poverty.
“In a diversifying agriculture economy, growing coffee may not give them all they wanted in life, but at least it moves them in some direction out of poverty, and that is something that would continue to improve their lifestyles,” he said.