ENB govt helping remote farmers

By ROSELYN ELLISON
MANY farmers in remote areas of East New Britain (ENB) have raised concern over the rising cost transporting their produce to markets making it difficult to earn a living off.
ENB Fresh Produce (ENBFP) spokesman Keake Mano raised the concern on behalf of the farmers pointing to bad road conditions as the main factor in causing more to be spent on transportation.
He said garden produce such as fruit and vegetables spoiled quickly of not transported to markets quickly.
Cash crops like cocoa and copra were also affected by the poor state of feeder roads or lack of easy access to those roads from the villages.
He added that Gazelle’s Lassul and Inland-Bainings local level government areas were affected greatly.
Mano said when there was no roads, farmers had to transport their goods by boat which had its own risks and limitations.
He told The National that ENBFP was doing what it could to help fresh produce farmers in these remote areas by visiting their farms and buying their produce.
Mano explained that ENBFP was a commercial arm of the provincial government set up to create the market for the farmers and help them transition from subsistence farming to commercial approach.
Mano said ENBFP was established in 2015 and had identified issues and gaps in the province’s agricultural sector.
“There a lot of remote areas in ENB that road connectivity remains a big challenge and mothers walk distances and pay more than K20 for public motor vehicle (PMV) transport fare plus their goods to the Kokopo or other main markets,” he said.
“ENBFP has made arrangements and been going out to the Lassul and Inland Baining LLGs purchasing fresh produce from mothers so in that way they are helping them as well,” Mano said.
He also called on the other agriculture organisations in the province to work with the government to help the local farmers.
He said cocoa and copra buyers could also do the same with farmers from remote parts of the district.
“In that way we are also helping the farmers too and they will be happy to continue in whatever they are doing to contribute to the local economy in ENB,” he said.