CPL sells locally produced coconut oil

Business

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
LOCALLY produced Mushu Island Virgin Coconut Oil is now selling in Stop & Shop and City Pharmacy stores.
From East Sepik, Bernadette Koiyama operates a small-medium business that produces the oil at her Sup village on the eastern tip of the island, located 13km across the channel from Wewak town.
The late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and daughter Betha had introduced the coconut oil to the founder of the CPL Group Sir Mahesh Patel and Lady Usha Patel last year.
Koiyama thanked the late Sir Michael for believing in the “village value chain”.
“It definitely (pushed) my village to produce coconut oil (which) is all done by hand – from climbing the coconut trees to processing and packaging,” she said.
The oil is used for cooking, baking, health and beauty and to treat cuts and burns.
Sir Mahesh contacted Koiyama to send some of the processed oil to be sampled in Port Moresby.
It was all thumbs-up and the product was launched in Port Moresby by East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, Dulciana Somara-Brash and CPL group chief executive officer Navin Raju. Bird thanked CPL “for sourcing local and for going out of your way in helping our people to develop this product”.
“Mushu is one of about 10 islands in East Sepik and the people depend a lot on fishing and coconut,” he said. “It’s really good to see that their coconut has made it onto the shelves of CPL. I hope that we will find more suppliers for this product to make sure our villages are making an income.”