Demonstration rice farm makes first harvest

By CLARISSA MOI
THE rice demonstration farm at 14-Mile outside Port Moresby harvested 10 tonnes of rice on Friday.
Agriculture and Livestock Minister Benny Allan, witnessing the first harvest, said that it was important for PNG to grow rice to address the issue of food security and also replace import of rice.
“We cannot be dependent on imported rice,” he said.
“We are now faced with all these global warming and climate change issues.
“One day, we will have a severe drought or climate change effect that will affect those rice-growing countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan.
“They will worry about their own population.
“Rice is now a staple food for Papua New Guineans so we will have serious food security problems if that happens.
“That is why we have to grow our own rice.
“We have been spending K600 million a year to import 400,000 tonnes of rice.
“We have to replace that.”
Allan said one hectare was harvested last week which was about 9.4 metric tonnes.
“We were expecting four to five metric tonnes,” he said.
“That’s a record production.”
Allan said they had proved all critics wrong by doing so.
“People have said that we cannot grow rice because of the soil, the climate,” he said.
“We are willing to go into large-scale commercial rice.”
Allan said 25ha of rice was planted three months ago which farmers were now harvesting. “We have put in a lot of time and effort and resource also,” he said.
Allan said Philippines imported around 800 million metric tonnes of rice which showed how much they consumed in a year.
“They grow their own rice but they cannot produce enough,” he said.
Allan said this was where Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte agreed that PNG grew rice here to meet the local demand.
“So once we meet the local consumption demand, then any surplus, Philippines is willing to buy from PNG,” he said.
Philippines ambassador Bien V Tejano said the harvest was “a very high yield”.
He said they would continue to support the project and also provide training to local farmers.