Growers seek strong coffee industry

 FARMERS in Eastern Highlands want a revitalised coffee industry that will allow them to increase the current export of one million bags of coffee to eight million by 2030.

“The growers are ready and willing to work with national, provincial and local level governments to raise the coffee industry to the next level,” PNG Women in Coffee chairperson Sallyn Lomutopa.

Daulo Smallholder Coffee Growers’ Association (SCHGA) executive John Inerehu said growers’ associations had no financial members and were defunct and could not legally represent the coffee growers

They had called on acting chairman of the Coffee Industry Corporation, Agriculture and Livestock Secretary Dr Vele Pat, to rescue the industry by immediately appointing an interim caretaker chief executive for the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and work with growers in each province to appoint an interim caretaker board.

Growers had proposed that the board be grower-based with two representatives for Mamose, two for Eastern Highlands, and one each for Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Chimbu, Southern Highlands, for Hela, Southern Region, Finance, Treasury,  Trade and Industry and  Agriculture and two for women.

They wanted the interim caretaker board and the chief executive to be given strict terms of reference to restructure the coffee industry, paving the way for coffee growers across PNG to take ownership of the industry and deliver eight million bags by 2030.