Jobs, agriculture left out in budget

AT the risk of unleashing the anger of others by criticising the “God-chosen” or “people’s government”, I must say that unfortunately the election budget did not go far enough in two key areas.
1. There is no creation of jobs in this budget.
The free education drive by this government will produce some 50,000 school-leavers a year; where are the jobs for them? 
Job creation should be tied to the free education initiative which sadly, appears to have been overlooked. Who will look after the school-leavers this year and last year?
Where will they find gainful employment?
2. There is no new investment in agriculture in this budget.
The government has decided to give some respite to the low wage earners by K600 per annum. 
At most, some 200,000 workers will benefit. 
What about the two million farmers in this country? 
What is in this budget for us? 
The K100 million allocated to NDB is not sufficient to help small farmers to improve his/her credit potential so that they can be in a stronger position to borrow. 
Countries with thriving agricultural sectors invest some 4% of GDP in the sector.
This means PNG should be investing around K400 million in agriculture annually to get somewhere near the transformation this nation needs.
The biggest loser in this budget is the smallholder farming community.
The fast strengthening kina has meant that coffee and cocoa producers have lost about K100 a bag of produce. 
Small block holders have lost about K800 a family in real terms and there is nothing in the budget to compensate them for this loss. 
This is the direct result of a strong kina.
If this blind policy continues, it will ultimately lead to a reduction in small holder production and increased poverty within the smallholder farming community nationwide.
I hate to spoil the celebrations but perhaps the people’s government needs to rethink some of its policy directives.

Allan Bird
Wewak