Learning to love and work the soil

THE most dangerous people in PNG right now are those who move around with an empty stomach.
These hungry people have no food to eat.
They are responsible for the high crime rate, which include white-collar crime.
They steal and rob to fill up their tummy on a daily basis.
But, we must get one fact straight – we will not go hungry if we stay in touch with the soil.
The undisputed fact is that God created every human on the face of this earth out of soil.
If we get scared of touching the soil, then we have a serious problem, known as identity crisis.
The hungry population in this resourceful nation is increasing so fast because people are scared of touching the soil.
Our leaders, especially elected politicians, must use their creative ability to attract people to go back to the soil and till it.
Leaders must remind their people that they are wasting their time and life in towns and settlements. They must encourage them to return to the village.
District authorities and provincial governments must start to invest in mechanised farming, establish and improve value chain systems, subsidise transport costs, and find markets for their people to sell their produce and livestock products.
They must sign up partnerships with State institutions, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations and financial institutions to develop the capacity of the people to take up farming as a business.
In a nation such as PNG, there are thousands of opportunities available to make a better life.
No one has any excuse to be poor or hungry. Every Papua New Guinean is a landowner by birthright.
Our land has the potential to turn us into extraordinary citizens.
The problem is that people do not believe in the land.
Able-bodied men and women are getting so lazy.
The country’s lazy population is becoming a liability.
But, we can change. We must teach our children to understand the dynamics of the soil at an early age and make them fall in love with the soil.
The soil is where we obtain our health and wealth.
If we get our hands dirty, we will make clean money, for an honest living. From the soil we came, to the soil we will return.

Tony Palme Kip
Sigri village, North Waghi