K100,000 cocoa freight subsidy for Garaina

By GLORIA BAUAI
THE Morobe Cocoa Board has presented another K100,000 in freight subsidy for Garaina Valley cocoa farmers.
The board’s regional manager Anton Ningi said this assistance was timely, given the increasing volume of Omora, Garasa and Garaina.
“The freight subsidy along with the nursery support programme had increased cocoa trees from an initial 81,000 trees to 128,000 in the valley.
“We are now receiving eight to 15 cocoa bags from weekly from the warehouse of the freight programme,” he said.
“Generally, the freight cost is about K3.50/kg and a standard cocoa bag is 62.5kg. Transporting by air from the valley to Lae is K200/bag.
“So, cocoa farmers are lucky to have this funding to support the programme,” he added.
Ningi said to date a total of 441 bags of cocoa dry beans had already been shifted from the valley and the board was looking forward to increasing production volume this year.
“It is very challenging for us to deliver such a service to our farmers and we are grateful to North Coast Aviation, as the only airline operating in the valley. This partnership has seen K187,000 direct return to cocoa farmers of Omora, Garasa and Garaina since 2017,” he added.