Investor keen to set up rice farming facility

LOCAL rice farmers can earn up to K17 million in a year because of the size of land that is under customary ownership, a Filipino official says.
Former Philippines agriculture secretary Emmanuel Pinol said Papua New Guinea had the potential to export rice to international markets but had been denied of that opportunity.
“Papua New Guinea you are blessed with a very fertile soil,” Pinol told the locals.
“So far, all the land we have tested are all the same.
“It has more texture, the right amount of nutrients and importantly it’s moist and can hold water.
“This is incredible because in the Philippines, the biggest single farm owner (who is with us) owns about 38 hectares of land and he earns around K500,000 a year.
“In PNG, I understand that one person or a group or family would have hundreds to thousands hectares of land.
“Imagine the revenue we can generate if we get this project up and running?”
After several soil tests at Brown River and Vanapa, Pinol said the land was suitable for growing rice as well as other crops like corn and silage which could then be used as feed for livestock.
Although he warned that there were no guarantees that the project would work smoothly, he assured the locals that the project would change their lives.
However, the investors were concerned over future land disputes which might affect their operations, and possibly millions of Kina in investment.
“When we bring those big machines, bulldozers and machinery for farming, it will cost billions of Pesos, so once we encounter a land dispute down the line, it will affect the investors badly,” Pinol said.
Pinol, who promised to connect the Philippines and PNG through agriculture, said he hoped the two countries could foster a long lasting friendship into the future.
He said he had made a commitment to former prime miniter, Peter O’Neill, to bring investors into PNG.