Good move to split ministry

I COMMEND the Government for their wisdom and hindsight in splitting the conventional Agriculture Ministry into three specific ministries — coffee, oil palm and livestock –— while retaining the Agriculture Ministry.
This is a blend of wisdom and strategy to make Papua New Guinea a self-sufficient micro-economic powerhouse in the region.
The political will has already been rolled out.
The onus is now on various stakeholders to pull together and work towards a vibrant platform on which to promote and sustain the agriculture economy going forward. Chief executive officer of Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC), Charles Dambui was correct when he told Minister for Coffee at the CIC headquarters in Goroka recently that the coffee industry cannot be revived by a mere K4 million to K5 million.
The major coffee producing provinces which should be considered for massive rehabilitation programmes are Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka and Western Highlands.
Provincial governments in these provinces should also support by injecting adequate grants into reviving the coffee industry.
Eastern Highlands Governor Simon Sia has pledged to support the coffee industry in his province with K10 million.
This is a practical approach with a proactive step in the right direction.
The coffee industry in EHP was not that bad because the farmers themselves have maintained their gardens over time even when government support was not forthcoming.
This intervention by the provincial government will boost farmer confidence and increase high yields.
The remaining coffee-growing provinces have to do a bit more to revive the industry because smallholder blocks, small and large plantations in those provinces has been run down and totally neglected by successive provincial governments over many years.
Coincidently, there is a sweeping change in government in the mentioned provinces from the recent general elections and this could be due to change in farmers’ minds for a better help expected this time.
Provincial and district public servants are readily available to roll out the Governments agricultural policies in their respective provinces.
These public servants are closer to the farmers, in fact some of them are smallholders themselves, who would take ownership of implementing the policies right down to district and LLG ward areas.
The agency heads and divisional managers of agriculture or primary industries in those coffee-growing provinces should align themselves to the Government’s policy changes in agriculture and start implementing by conducting surveys of all coffee farmers and collect firsthand data and information on the status of coffee gardens.
When this information is received from the farmers, the district and provincial agricultural officers (public servants) would know what type of remedial (corrective) actions are necessary and submit the findings and recommendations to their own provincial governments and the national Minister for Coffee to seek funding from public investment programmes (PIP) and/or development partners to rehabilitate the coffee farms.
The funding should be directed to the private sector agriculture shops to supply necessary tools and chemicals to identified farmers in the survey to start rehabilitating their farms with family labour input.
In the case of semi-plantations and few plantations, casual labourers should be hired, in coordination with provincial and district agencies, to help in manual activities and paid a standard wage of K3.50 per hour for the first two to three years until the farms reach optimum production to sustain their own operations.
This is a practical perspective of how the rundown and neglected farms, some of which were cut down to make food gardens, should be revived or replanted with such support to revive the hailing industry to increase exports to earn much needed foreign currency.
As they say, it is easier saying than done, so if you analyse the foregoing rehabilitation process, it means commitment by stakeholders and taking proactive approaches and consistent monitoring to see the industry revived to its full potential.
Papua New Guineans are natural farmers, in fact that’s our livelihood.
The problem with coffee farming is we don’t consume the coffee.
That is where government support is needed in the interest of microeconomics in increasing foreign currency.
The coffee sector provides employment, increases household income and promotes MSMEs/SMEs to grow.
We need to work hard if we have to leave a vibrant and self-sustaining economy for our children and grandchildren when all the non-renewable resources of the extractive industry, which currently account for 80 per cent of export earnings, are depleted in less than 50 years.

Philip Ukuni