Farmer’s cooperative sets up rice farm

By MALUM NALU
A FARMER’S cooperative in the Markham Valley of Morobe is setting up arguably the biggest commercial rice farm in the country – with the support of Trukai Industries Ltd.
Members of the Chingwam Rice Growers’ Cooperative of Ragiampun village near Watarais have started planting seeds for the 100-hectare farm. Harvest is expected in April.
Cooperative director John Maran and Trukai rice development manager Humphrey Saese said it would be the biggest commercial rice farming project in the country.
Maran said the lack of markets had discouraged the Markham people from growing rice.
He said an agreement was signed with Trukai in December 2015, for the company to provide machinery, chemical and technical advice. Locals will provide the land.
“We did a 10-hectare trial with 22 varieties of rice from Australia, all of which grew well. The trial was very successful with very fertile soil,” Maran said.
“This is the biggest commercial rice farm in Papua New Guinea. From the 10ha, we produced 24 tonnes of rice – enough to fill four 20-feet containers.”
Maran said Trukai paid K700 per tonne for the first harvest with the cooperative getting more than K16,000 for its members.
“It was worth the effort and all the members were very happy,” he said.
“We are very passionate about growing rice. Markham Valley alone can cater for all the rice demands of PNG because of the large tracts of land that are available.
“I appeal to our people to stop land disputes, work together and bring development to our area.
“The community is happy, people are happy, the biggest thing is improving the livelihoods of families.”
Saese said the Chingwam cooperative was leading a new wave of rice-growing in the country involving more than 50-ha of land.
“This is going to be the biggest commercial farm that the company (Trukai) has engaged with,” he said.