Council: Govt needs to support agriculture

THE Government needs to fully support the agriculture sector by making infrastructure accessible to farmers, according to a Consultative and Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC) report.
The report, produced following a agriculture sectoral committee meeting in June, states that Government is investing less in the sector. The report says that although Papua New Guineans practised agriculture long time ago, there is lack of support in the area of infrastructure to keep the sector going.
Some issues pointed out include poor road conditions, lack of cool storage facilities for fresh produce, lack of factories for tree crops like cocoa, coffee, oil palm, high freight costs and poor extension services for farmers.
The report states that the Government should be committed to improving infrastructure.
Major reforms in fiscal and trade policies are expected to induce an upsurge in investor interest in the agricultural sector. The report also highlights that most farmers are integrated; they are not only oil palm and coffee farmers but vegetables, other food crops or honey bee farmers.
According to Fresh Produce Development Agency, market demand was there, but it comes back to farmers and players along the value chain to supply.