K324,000 for NB Palm Oil

By PETER ESILA
THE Oil Palm Industry Corporation (Opic) spent around K1.836 million in the past two months on seedlings to help oil palm smallholder growers, says Oil Palm Minister Francis Maneke.
He handed over the final cheque of K324,000 to New Britain Palm Oil Limited’s Poliamba’s Estate general manager Bujang Tabau Frankie at Panamana, outside Kavieng, New Ireland, on Thursday.
The K1.8 million covers the 102,000 RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Oil Palm) certified seedlings that would be distributed to smallholders in Kavieng (K324,000 – 21,000 seedlings); Hoskins (K540,000 – 35,000 seedlings); Bialla (K216,000 – 14,000 seedlings); Popondetta (K540,000 – 35,000 seedlings); and, Alotau (K216,000 – 14,000 seedlings)
These are the five Opic project areas.
Maneke also handed over a backhoe, a three-tonne truck and five motorbikes to the Opic in New Ireland, which together with the inauguration of a new Opic office complex and four staff houses, signified a significant
enhancement of the industry’s infrastructure.
“Through the Government, we have the Oil Palm national intervention programme to benefit growers. I encourage the two milling companies, NBPOL and Hargy, to work with Opic to deliver the seedling programme,” he said.
He said the oil palm industry, which contributed K2.8 billion in export revenue in 2022, had the capacity to become as influential as the mining and petroleum sector in the national economy.
“Our agenda is clear, we must go into new areas, into downstream processing, participation in mills and byproducts. Everything must stay in the country to improve our forex and more money into the country,” Maneke said.
“We want to look at how people will surrender their land, and ensure their land is bankable.”
He said intervention would also start with the review of the Opic Act 1992.