K140mil injected into project

ABOUT K140 million has been injected into PNG agriculture commercialisation and diversification (PACD) project by the World Bank, an official says.
World Bank PNG and Pacific Islands senior operations officer Jane Sprouster said, in Port Moresby yesterday during the launching that the project would directly benefit 20,000 farmers.
It hopes to achieve the commodity targets set in the 2021-2023 agriculture medium term development plan. “The World Bank’s global mission is to work for sustainable solutions to reduce poverty and build shared prosperity,” Jane said.
“With 80 per cent of Papua New Guineans depending on agriculture to sustain their livelihoods, agriculture has long been, and remains a priority for our engagement in PNG.”
She said the productive partnerships in agriculture project (PPAP) was PNG’s largest agriculture programme support by the World Bank.
“It was launched in 2010 and in just over 10 years, it supported more than 67,000 smallholder cocoa and coffee producers in PNG, with more than three million cocoa trees and more than seven million coffee trees replanted or rehabilitated,” she said.
“Through this new project we want to help build upon the successes of PPAP, and expand beyond coffee and cocoa to other important value chains.” The project aims to facilitate the development of competitive and diversified agriculture value chains for coffee, cocoa, coconuts, spices and small livestock in 12 provinces.
They are the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, New Ireland, East and West New Britain, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Enga and Southern Highlands.
The aim is to increase yield by 25 per cent for cocoa, coffee and diversified value chains.
This is measured by increased yields of selected crops cocoa wet beans, coffee parchment, fresh ginger.
“When we talk about diversifying value chains, this means we aim to support at least 30 agribusiness partnerships that assist farmers from coffee and cocoa producing areas diversifying to new commodities, practices that compliment production,” Jane said