Foreign firm helps cocoa growers

By JEFFREY ELAPA
AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister John Simon says a foreign company will enter into an agreement to support cocoa growers in Maprik, East Sepik, before rolling it out.
Simon said the arrangement for international investors to come and partner with the people of Maprik started before he became minister.
He said before the arrangement, he came up with an economic concept after seeing the potential the district had as a cocoa producer.
Simon said he found that there were 12.3 million cocoa trees owned by farmers in the district.
“We did a study and we realised that we had an estimated 12.3 million cocoa trees in actual production, producing just under 2,000 tonnes of cocoa annually when they could’ve been producing 10,000 tons,” he said.
“I asked why we were not producing what we could be.
“One reason was value adding to industry and making sure the people were getting a fair return for their effort.”
Simon said he wanted to set up 23 zones where they would establish solar cocoa dryers.