Gurr goes into melon business

Thompson Gurr has four watermelon plots at Kuplang village, on the fringes of Kudjip Tea in Jiwaka, and has already made over K20,000 from the first three harvests this year.
His market spot is along the Highlands Highway at Kudjip Tea where he sells melons for K10-K60.
Gurr, 42, holds a certificate for heavy diesel equipment fitting.
He is now happy because he is self-employed or what he calls “my own boss.”
Gurr is planning to become a fulltime watermelon farmer and has called on Jiwaka MPs and provincial government to help local farmers venture into commercial farming.
“This is my second year of planting watermelons,” he says.
“I have four plots, each about a hectare.
“I’ve just realised that I made the right decision to go back and work on my land, instead of wasting my precious time looking
for free handouts at Kudjip Market.
“Youths putting up small tables and selling cigarettes and betel nuts is a lazy man’s job and a real eyesore.
“Such people should work on the land when they have the energy, but instead they are wasting their time and lives.
“Time is a precious commodity that one cannot buy.
“If all our young men and women return to the land, Papua New Guinea will have a lot of hard cash millionaires.
“Healthy money is earned when you lose your sweat.
“Money is in the land.
“I believe in the words of leaders like Paias Wingti, who keeps on telling people to till the soil.”
With the proceeds from his watermelon business, Gurr has invested in a spacious house for his seven children.
Gurr says he has the land but lacks capital and labour to venture into large-scale watermelon farming, let alone relying on labour provided by his family.
He gets his seeds from Brian Bell stores in Mt Hagen and sometimes sends money to his friends in Port Moresby to get them for him.
Gurr says his four hectares are capable of supplying two containers of watermelons to markets in Port Moresby or Lae.
“I was trained by technical officers from the National Agricultural Research Institute to grow quality watermelons.
“My watermelons have the best taste and are very big and juicy.
“I have received orders from many people but I only supply to my faithful customers.”
Gurr also grows carrots and capsicum but concentrates on watermelons.
“There is a lot of money in gardening, but people are either lazy or there is lack of labour and capital to motivate them.
“If there is good political support given to people in the villages, they can live a self-reliant way of life and stop bothering their leaders.
“My encouragement is for young people to get back to the land.
“There is real milk and honey waiting for them there, not on the roadside.”
Community leader Nickson Kondi praised Gurr for his newfound approach to life.
“I’ve seen Thompson (Gurr) a lot of times at the market in the past doing nothing,” he said.
“In the last two years he stopped.
“He is now busy by giving more time to his land or selling at the market.
“All social problems will decrease if people keep themselves busy every day.
“Gardening is a very holistic approach to create a better society for everyone.”