Landowners told to focus on agriculture to earn regular income

LANDOWNERS in Hela need to change their mindset from being too dependent on royalty and equity payments from PNG LNG to becoming farmers with regular incomes, says Koroba-Kopiago MP Petrus Thomas.
He made this call in support of Tari-Pori James Marape and Komo-Margarima MP Manase Makiba at the signing of an agreement to start a large-scale commercial agriculture project in Hela.
“Hela is home to naturally-industrious people who had worked in plantations in East New Britain and Western Highlands before independence to make those provinces become strong agricultural centres,” Thomas said
“Unfortunately, the same could not be done here. We got the false hope from the PNG LNG that when it came into operation, everyone would be a millionaire. When you look at the project site, not every Hela is a landowner. It is only fitting that we look at all the people of Hela. We need to go into agriculture. My district is happy to be part of this project because not all Koroba-Kobiago people are landowners.
“It is only fair that I partner in the agriculture project. When we start to empower the people of Hela, they will naturally start to transform their lives in the village and district level.
“We should not depend only on the PNG LNG project as it is not transforming Hela like we hoped.”
Thomas said Koroba-Kopiago would support the project with a funding of K250,000, a part of the initial cost of K10 million for the first phase of the project.