Maprik coffee enters market

 By ROSELYN ELLISON

MAPRIK, in East Sepik, is one of the major coffee producing districts in the province, provincial coffee coordinator Norm Sandari says.

Sandari said the coffee extension programme began  in Maprik in 1986 but was affected by the vanilla boom in 2004.

He said in 2006, coffee extension officers conducted marketing training with a few interested farmers and this was the first move to get coffee production back on track.

The interest among farmers grew and coffee production picked up.

Sandari said there was only one coffee mill operating in the district.

There are more than 34 cooperative societies in central Sepik working with the coffee extension programme officers to produce coffee.

Sandari said most of the cooperatives were operating in remote parts of the province where roads were in very poor condition.

Because of this, farmers found it difficult to sell their produce.

He said last year, 1,834 bags weighing 111,103kg were exported. Farmers received more than K300,000 for their produce.

Sandari said the coffee programme in the district would spend about K1 million a year for the next five years. This comprises K200,000 for the coffee rehabilitation programme, K100,000 for marketing and K100,000 for the expansion programme.