K540,000 for Higaturu to provide seedlings

By NATHAN WOTI in Popondetta
OIL Palm Minister Francis Maneke yesterday gave a cheque for K540,000 to the Higaturu Oil Palm in Popondetta to buy seedling for farmers in Northern.
Higaturu Oil Palms is a subsidiary of New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPOL).
Maneke said smallholder farmers faced issues in getting fertilisers and accessing roads.
“Under the Oil Palm Industry Corporation (Opic), we did not have a law or policy to regulate and guide the farming of this important commodity,” he said.
“That is why we face problems as small-holder farmers and industry players to grow the industry,” the Nakanai MP said.
He said Opic would be restructured to capture the interest of industry players and smallholder farmers, as well as commercialisation of potential farming land through Government acquisition.
“We have seen in the last 40 years what is missing in the sector,” the Minister said.
“The reason I held back the policy is to discuss with industry players such as NBPOL, Higaturu, and small and large-scale holders in oil palm growing provinces so that we capture their needs in the policy,” Maneke said.
Higaturu general manager Vijou Vergis said the company had been supplying seedlings and fertilisers to small-holder farmers, and the funding support would help reach out to more farmers.
Oro is the country’s oldest oil palm farming province in the country since the first plantation started back in 1970s.