Dion: Collective effort needed for balsa woes

EAST New Britain Governor, Leo Dion says there are challenges within the balsa industry that need a collective effort from stakeholders to address.
He said this yesterday at the opening of the balsa scenario planning workshop at Kairak Vudal Resource Training Centre, in Rabaul.
The workshop was attended by representatives from the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research, the University of Natural Resources and Environment, Pacific Islands Project, PNG Balsa and officers from the Division of Primary Industry.
“Over the past decade, agriculture has contributed more than 26% of the country’s annual gross domestic product and 15% of its annual export revenue,” Dion said.
“Agriculture will remain a vital engine room for economic growth in ENB.”
Dion said the sector was overstressed because of the incursion of cocoa pod borer, thus the need for diversification.
Consultant Dr Michael Blyth said the aim of the two-day workshop was to bring together different stakeholders in the province to reflect on the future of the industry, the economy of the province and implications of the industry.
The two scenarios focused on were variables of the industry, which were political stability and supply demand oversupply.
He said the workshop was important as it brought together stakeholders with diverse backgrounds.
“Communication in the industry needs to be strengthened to allow growers to be better informed.”
Blyth said PNG had been supplying balsa well on the international market.
But he said prices had started to decline leading to a fall in demand as many countries were no longer using balsa because of the economic crisis in Europe and it was seen as an intermediate product.