Decline in cocoa quality: Official

THE Morobe Cocoa Show recently drew attention to the decline in quality but not enough was said about the steady decline in production in Papua New Guinea, Agmark managing director John Nightingale says.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to address the Morobe Cocoa show crowd last Saturday morning drawing attention to the major issue of production decline; the decline in quality and the need for a strong board to look after the interests of the growers,” he said. “The way forward is clearly to appoint a strong Cocoa Board composed of committed grower members to look after and grow this shrinking industry by overseeing strong policies.”
Nightingale said research and development issues including plant breeding had to be addressed.
“We have an emerging problem of a decline in the recovery/yield of dry beans from wet beans,” he said.
“The yield has been around 34 per cent for many years. However, we became aware in 2018 of a fall towards only 27 per cent.
“This is almost a 20 per cent loss.
“There is no obvious cause apparent at this point in time. This decline is in East New Britain and has also been detected in Madang.
“The Cocoa Board members for the past 15 years and more have been appointed on an ad hoc basis.
“Many have been cronies of bureaucrats and past ministers.
“A previous department secretary chaired the board as if it was his own.”
Nightingale said cocoa board management had failed in the past to consult with the wider industry.
He said the steady decline in export tonnage was not taken seriously by those in charge of regulating the industry.
“The great success of the current Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project work shows what can be done.
“However these programmes need to be doubled to arrest the decline in cocoa production,” he said.
“It cannot not be done with ‘user pays’ funding.
“There has to be funding from outside the industry.”
Nightingale said the branding of cocoa bags with the producers name and number as required under the Cocoa Act and Regulations was being ignored by the Cocoa Board and some exporters.