K318 mil PPAP to be completed by Dec 31

The US$94 million (K318 million) World Bank Productive in Agriculture Project (PPAP) Phase I and II project is scheduled for completion on Dec 31 this year.
The National’s Senior Writer MALUM NALU spent three days (July 11 to 13) in the bush to check how the project has impacted the lives of coffee communities.

The PPAP was approved on April 29, 2010, and signed on Aug 9, 2010, i.e about nine years ago.
The PPAP’s K318 million total loan financing for Phase I (US$39 million/K132 million) and II (US$55 million/K186 million) project is scheduled for completion end of this year.
The project development is targeted to improve the livelihoods of smallholder cocoa and coffee producers by implementing:
INDUSTRY coordination and policy development programmes and policies;
PRODUCTIVE partnerships; and
MARKET access.
The coffee-producing provinces currently benefitting from PPAP are Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands, Morobe, Madang, East Sepik and East New Britain.

Left: Stephanie Wambi

Wambi … more farmers want to participate in PPAP but they are turned down due to limited funds
PPAP Coffee Partnership Project Coordinator for Southern Highlands Stephanie Wambi says coffee growing has taken off extensively in the province.
Wambi, 27, an agriculture graduate of the University of Technology, said: “The project was launched in December 2016 when I got involved as a fresh graduate.
“The project covers three districts – Kagua-Erave, Nipa-Kutubu and Imbonggu. Each of the districts have three registered cooperatives.
“We have 810 registered farmers, 729 of whom are men, and 81 women.”
Wambi said the project supplied pulper machines, fertilisers, farming tools and services such as training in the various aspects of coffee growing.
“Seven nursery sites had already been set up in Nipa-Kutubu (four) and Imbonggu (three), with each having a capacity of 20,000 seedlings.
“We have a target of 216,000 seedlings but some did not grow well,” she added.
“We have, to date, produced 165,000 seedlings, 119,000 have been distributed to farmers.
“We are short of coffee seedlings, so sourced some 18,000 seedlings from Mt Hagen for distribution to farmers,” Wambi said.
She said one of the project’s main challenge was transportation, given that “we cover three districts, over a wide terrain”.
“More farmers want to participate in the project but we have to turn them down due to limited funds. That is another problem,” she added.
PPAP manager Potaisa Hombunaka says the coffee industry needs improved road network to grow.
“That is why we are building Works Department-standard roads in coffee-growing areas,” he said during a visit to the Avi Block in the Waghi Valley of Jiwaka, a prominent coffee-growing area.
“Coffee production had declined in the valley because of poor road access. We don’t only talk about coffee rehabilitation. Market access is key to growth and sustainability.
“Without market access, there’s no point for coffee rehabilitation,” he added.
Hombunaka said PPAP was a proven World Bank model in other countries using an integrated approach to agriculture development.
“If we really want to add value to agriculture in this country, we have to overcome market access, which is the biggest obstacle.
“If you ask a farmer what is their No. 1 need, they will tell you they want to wake up tomorrow, and drive a two-wheel vehicle from where they are to town and back.
“They are saying, ‘build us a road and forget about us’. That’s what the farmer badly wants,” he added.
PPAP lead partner in Southern Highlands’ Pangia Daniel Piopo says the coffee industry is growing significantly many programmes being implemented.
Piopo’s company, Kori Coffee, comes under the PPAP programme and “it is looking after 660 farmers”.
“I want to call on the Government, on behalf of my farmers, to consolidate the PPAP project as it touches the little people in the villages.
“Coffee in Southern Highlands was dead and neglected until the World Bank, through PPAP, intervened.,” he added.
Farmer Wanpis Wapoka of Weriko Village in South Wiru said the PPAP had indeed been a game changer in Pangia.
“My coffee garden was covered in bush, with wild animals roaming around, until Piopo taught me how to look after my garden, budget my finances and other matters.
“He supplied me with everything that was need for the garden. I have three coffee gardens and they are now all growing very well. I now have regular income and have even helped to build a church with my coffee money.
“I am also able to pay the school fees for my children. My life has turned for the better,” Wapoka said.