Kumbakor believes commercial crops will boost PNG’s economy

Former New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) manager and Nuku MP Andrew Kumbakor believes in investing in commercial crops to help PNG’s economy.
“If more land is utilised to grow oil palm, PNG could earn billions in export earnings and create many jobs and spin-offs for people” he said in a statement.
Kumbakor said Papua New Guinea earned around K2 billion from oil palm alone but only K25 million is circulated in the local cash economy.
He said he used to work for NBPOL as their manager and every holiday when he went home, his extended family came and ask for salt, kerosene and soap.
“That forced me to stand for public office so I can create something sustainable for my people, like cocoa,” he said.
Kumbakor later became Nuku MP and worked to develop the commercial crop industry for his people.
In Sepik, Nuku was second to Angoram in cocoa production until March 2006 when the cocoa pod borer struck and decimated the cocoa industry.
“Today, vanilla is substituting for the rural cash economy in the area but it needs good road infrastructure,” Kumbakor said.
He said whether district services improvement programme (DSIP) was fully funded or received on time was another issue: what mattered was accountability.