Farming eyed as Central’s priority

National

By TREVOR WAHUNE
Agriculture will be Central’s number one priority under its five-year development plan, Governor Robert Agarobe says.
Agarobe said yesterday his government has prioritised agriculture because the province has large areas of unused arable land.
He said there were plans for multi-cropping and to assist districts to speacialise in farming certain crops.
“I am looking at a concept where we can grow one crop in each electorate so each would major in a cash crop.
“For example, in Abau I might urge them to plant rubber. In Goilala I urge them to speacialise in coffee. In Kairuku-Hiri I would urge them to produce rice, and in Rigo I aim to have them speacialise in cocoa,” Agarobe said.
“Each electorate should focus on a crop each to first develop quantity then look into developing their production quality.”
Agarobe said the trick was to bring the market to them to enhance them to develop themselves on sea and also on land because there would be a guarantee for earning incomes from whatever agricultural activities locals were engaged in.
Meanwhile, he said finance would be an issue, but his team was addressing it and taking a different approach to it.
“We have businesshouses and assets, and we are conducting a stocktake of everything we have.
“We will be approaching funding from government sources and also seek funding for special projects through systems that are available through our business houses within Central.
“We understand that it is something that cannot be achieved overnight but we have plans already in place to build these sectors up.”