Farmers to benefit from cocoa nursery

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday 30th November 2011

A NEW community cocoa nursery is expected to benefit farmers in Bitapak near Kokopo, East New Britain.
People last Friday witnessed the opening of the community cocoa nursery donated by Outspan PNG Ltd, a leading cocoa exporter in PNG.
The nursery is a non-profitable initiative by the company which set it up and handed it over to the community to run.
The nursery will produce 20,000 seedlings a year, to be provided to farmers at a nominal rate, generating just enough to cover the cost of running it.
Senior managers from the Cocoa Board of PNG, representatives from PNG CCI, managers from Outspan PNG Ltd, representatives from local government bodies and villagers turned up to show their support for the project.
Cocoa Board acting chief executive officer Barnabas Toreu quoted Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, saying it was “a small first step but a giant leap” in the effort to bring East New Britain back to its rightful place as the largest cocoa growing region in the country.
He commended the company on the initiative to bring cocoa seedlings to the doorstep of the farmers.
He said it was a win-win situation as the farmers would bring back their cocoa to sell to the company.
Tavui 2 councillor Antony Tiralom received the first cocoa seedling on behalf of the community from Maharajan Mariappan, operations manager of Outspan PNG Ltd.
“This was the first time any company had taken such an initiative, and we assure that the community will take good care of the nursery so that the farmers can reap its benefits,” he said.
Outspan PNG Ltd general manager Arul Thomas reiterated the company’s commitment to the farmers in ENB.
He said unlike other provinces, agriculture, and cocoa in particular were the backbone of the economy in East New Britain, and it was up to all the stakeholders gathered to guarantee a good future in the in­dustry for the youth of the province.
He commended the Cocoa Board and World Bank for launching the PPAP project to improve the livelihood of cocoa farmers, saying the company would be a lead partner in the project.
Outspan works with farmer communities on increasing productivity and improving efficiency through a number of grass roots projects in PNG.