Farmer thanks company

A COCOA farmer in Lower Watut, Morobe, has thanked local manufacturer Paradise Foods for giving farmers better prices for their produce.
Paradise Food last month took delivery of 56 bags of cocoa worth more than K300,000 from farmers in Wampan, Tsilitsili, Maralina, Uruf and Mafanazo villages along the Watut River.
Martin Ngawi from Tsilitsili village said cocoa was the major source of income now.
“We want to thank Paradise Foods for giving us a premium price for our cocoa,” he said.
Cocoa was reintroduces six years ago by the Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture through its partnership with the Cocoa Board, Cocoa Coconut Institute, Morobe government and Huon Gulf district.
The number of farmers has grown to 900 from the 14 villages.
The farmers formed the Lower Watut Cocoa Farmers Cooperative Society in 2012  to move the cocoa industry forward.
Cooperative Society manager Sophin Malaku said: “It hasn’t been an easy road for the cooperative however things are looking up.
“We have been able to link up the farmers to Paradise Foods and hope many more farmers will use the opportunity provided by Paradise Foods to sell their cocoa beans.”
Sophin said the farmers were hoping they would further grow their business with Paradise Foods.
“However there’s more work to be done to maintain and improve bean quality so that it meets the demands of Paradise Foods subsidiary, Queen Emma Chocolate, which is where these beans will end up to be processed,” Sophin said.
Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture general manager sustainability and external relations David Wissink said cocoa could drive development.
Queen Emma Chocolate general manager Karina Makori said the company insisted on supporting local farmers to ensure that only the best cocoa beans were grown and supplied so that would boost the quality of the production.