Department working on agriculture policies, long-term plan

DEPARTMENT of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) acting secretary Stephen Mombi says the department’s policy division is undertaking work on an agriculture price support policy.
Mombi said the department would also work on a long-term agriculture plan.
“I have been instructed to immediately get the price support policy (done) and the policy division is already working on it,” he said.
“And then the long-term agriculture sector plan, the last plan we had was national agriculture development plan which expired in 2016 and we are already five years late.
“We need that long-term agriculture sector plan for maybe 20 years.
“I have already spoken with people with agriculture backgrounds, we just need to find the money to pay them and they will come in and we run the plans.
“There are two bills, we called them the Agriculture Administration Adjustment Bill and Agriculture Investment Corporation Bill. We have already done everything, we just need to have formal consultation with the stakeholders and finalise them to go before Parliament.
“The price support will come in quickly and from the information from Government, they want that policy out quickly and I think we can deliver.”