Hope for Goilala’s future

By ALPHONSE BARIASI

FORMER soldier Max Bauai is already sick of living with the stigma attached to his Goilala people. He hopes that the would come when they would be able to discard that bad name like a soiled garment, for good.
A committed Christian, his calloused hands are proof of his years of tilling the land to feed Port Moresby city. But he would rather grow the food on his own native land up in the cool mountains of Guari in Goilala. Instead, he is working someone else’s land. Following in his father’s footsteps, Max has made Brown River outside of Port Moresby his home.
From his plot allocated by the original Koiari landowners, Max and his relatives produce a variety of vegetables, root crops and bananas which they supply to the city markets and supermarkets.
For Max personally, he has established links with one of the city’s major buyers, the City Pharmacy Limited’s Stop and Shop supermarket chain.
And over the past few years, his Goilala farmers at Brown River have been supplying the Stop and Shop supermarkets. However, while he may be happy with the financial returns for the Goilalas of Brown River, he still longs to see fresh produce brought in steady supply from the the three local level government areas of Guari, Tapini and Woitape to Port Moresby.
Max, like many other concerned Goilalas and their leaders like the late MP William Samb, are working hard to make sure Goilala people are provided opportunities to improve their lives and become better citizens rather than being generalised as lazy opportunists.
He believes that one of the surest ways to improve the lives of the youth population is no real secret but to draw them to farming their abundant land. But the catch there is to make farming viable and attractive. And that entails finding a solution to the logistics and transportation to the ready market of Port Moresby, home to about a million people.
“We have had a bad name for long enough. This is the time to work hard and engage the youth especially in agricultural activities,” Max says.
“Many times, the youth are engaged in drug cultivation and smuggling and end up in some other criminal activities. I am certain that if we get them to work the land and earn their own money, that would contribute to a reduction in illegal activities.
“For years, Goilala’s food has been locked up there. We need assistance to bring that fresh produce into the Port Moresby market.”
He says with only a 45-minute flight out of Goilala into Port Moresby, the freshest garden produce from the district could be on dinner plates in Port Moresby the same day or the next.
“I have already established a market with the CPL Group and it only needs some firm commitment to subsidising airfreight from Goilala to Port Moresby,” Max says.
Driving into Goilala on an all-weather road may be still a few years into the future. For now, airlifting the district’s fresh produce is the only means feasible.
Max and another Guari man Siurangi Mogo, are quite hopeful that the newly elected MP for Goilala, former police officer Casmiro Aia, and the new Central Governor Rufina Peter would consider such an option to assist their people.
Max and Siurangi are particularly pleased with the election victory of the new governor who they reagrd as a distant relative.
The agriculture economist might be aware that she is shouldering the hopes of people like Max and Siuaring and all Cetral people from the coastlines to the interior bordering Milne Bay, Gulf and Northern.
“We’re happy about Rufina’s win and we believe she is an anointed leader,” Max says with a wide grin.
“We want this bad name given to Goilala to be erased. And that can only be done when Goilala people begin to work hard and turn to God.”
Max is a faithful member of the Revival Centres of PNG Church which has already established fellowship centres in the Goilala District.
“To change Goilala needs both physical and spiritual interventions. We not only encourage people to turn their lives around and follow Christ but also tell them to work their land to better their lives.

“I believe God alone can change Goilala. When we tell people to work hard, this is part of witnessing for Christ to change people’s lives.”
Avocado is one crop that thrives in the cool mountains.
Vegetables, potatoes, citrus and coffee grow very well there. There is opportunity to produce more but the long standing issues of transportation and reliable markets hinder efforts to increas production.
At the moment Goilala produce is just trickling in due mainly to the high cost of airfreight.
Last April three men from Fane flew in with 180kg of avocados collected from smallholder farmers scattered around their area.
Without any outside help such as in subsidising the cost of freight it is quite a challenge for farmers to fly their produce out to markets.
Port Moresby city presents a ready market for Goilala and Central province’s fresh produce.
It only requires a viable supply chain to benefit producers and consumers alike.