Lack of consistency a put-off: Maru

SOME investors avoid the country because we cannot guarantee consistency in quality and supply to the market, says National Planning and Monitoring Minister Richard Maru.
Maru said it was something that we must be good at to boost investor confidence. He was in Lae on Sunday to discuss with the Coffee Industry Corporation chief executive officer Charles Dambui the building of a new export office complex in the city.
Maru said it had always been a tradition with coffee farmers and other producers that they sold their produce when the price was good. They did not bother when the price was low.
“That is the mentality that local farmers have because they only want to get the maximum benefit without thinking of other aspects that their actions may affect,” he said.
“Our biggest challenge now is how we can make sure the prices of these local produces go up on a consistent basis so that this could give confidence to the farmers.”
Maru said one way to do that was to do downstream processing and come up with the final finished product in the country.
“This will then increase the prices of raw materials so that local farmers would keep producing to meet and ensure a consistent supply and quality to the market.”