Department aligning plans with govt’s development agenda

THE Department of Agriculture and Livestock is now aligning its plans with the Government’s medium term development plan III to reap benefits for the sector, an official says.
Secretary Daniel Kombuk said this during the alignment workshop on the Agriculture Medium Term Development Plan 2020-2022 in Port Moresby yesterday which saw sector representatives from regions attended.
“Over the last 15 years, the support to agriculture has not been good and I really want the Government to increase funding to the agriculture sector because we have to bring this country forward and it has got to be with agriculture,” Kombuk said.
“More than 85 per cent of the people of PNG sustain their livelihoods through agricultural activities.”
Agriculture Medium Term Development Plan coordinator Regina Nukundj said the idea was for representatives from the provinces would merge their plans during the two-day workshop which began yesterday.
“We then want the province to identify their space. Agriculture currently contributes around 30 per cent of the PNG’s national GDP (gross domestic product),” she said.
“Coffee, cocoa, copra, palm oil, rubber and tea are PNG’s major export crops contributing K20 billion in export revenue within the last 10 years from a total of seven billion tonnes produced and exported.
“However, the level of production from commercial plantations has declined in the last five years due to fluctuating world prices, rising labour and overhead costs, poor management and land tenure issues leading to the closure of major estates.”