Eyes on customary land

Business

ACCESSING customary land for oil palm development is one of the areas targeted under the review of the Oil Palm Industry Corporation (Opic) Act 1992, general-secretary Kepson Pupita says.
Pupita made the remarks on a visit to Popondetta, Northern, one of Papua New Guinea’s oil palm growing province, over the weekend.
He said the review was important for the industry.
Pupita said the review would result in legislation that allowed the state and landowners to use land and benefit from oil palm development.
“We’ve got to develop business models that will entail investment incomes for landowners,” he said.
He said change was needed in order to maximise land use and ensure the majority benefited.
Pupita said the review would see how Opic would assist landowners to register incorporated land groups (ILGs) and set up companies for landowners.
“Only through this will we be able to grow the industry.”
Pupita said there were investors willing to develop customary land but they needed to be protected for the risk they were taking.
“We have hundreds of people owning the land and all of them want to be beneficiaries, that’s where we fall out.
“We need to form ILGs and allow them to participate in the smallholder businesses.
“Let us make them earn royalties on the customary land that is given to the milling companies.”
He said landowners would be more willing to give their land for development if they received a fair share of the benefits and communities were improved.