Marape launches Cocoa of Excellence show

AGRICULTURE

By MALUM NALU
ALL roads lead to Kundiawa, Chimbu, from Oct 7-9, 2021, when the third biennial PNG Cocoa of Excellence Show will be held.
The event – organised by the PNG Cocoa Board – was launched in style by Prime Minister James Marape in front of a full house and appreciative crowd in Port Moresby last Thursday (Sept 9, 2021).
Why Chimbu, many may ask, when cocoa is a cash crop synonymous to coastal areas of Papua New Guinea?
Unbeknownst to many, the Highlands of PNG, and in particular remote Karamui in Chimbu, is the new frontier of cocoa in the country.
On Friday, Oct 9, 2020, PM Marape made a historical visit to Karamui.
He gave K10 million to start work on the long-overdue road linking Karamui-Nomane, a landlocked district with massive, untapped agriculture potential, with the rest of Chimbu.
Marape also saw for himself the rich agriculture produce of the district, particularly cocoa, which thrives in this Garden of Eden.
It is truly one of the most amazing places of PNG which can help the transformation of the country.
Agriculture aficionados know that Karamui-Nomane grows the biggest cocoa pods in PNG
It grows some of the best coffee, spices and peanuts in the country, to name just a few.
However, the problem is that Karamui-Nomane is only accessible by air, which means that it cannot share much of its rich agriculture produce with the rest of PNG and the world.
If it is opened up by road, it has the potential to transform Chimbu, and PNG as a whole, as an agriculture food basket.

This has been said for many years, however, nothing has been done until now.
Fitting, Kundiawa in Chimbu will host the PNG Cocoa of Excellence Show, at which the cocoa of Karamui will be on show to the world.
Aptly, it is PM Marape who had the honoUr of launching the event, with the announcement that everyone has been waiting for:  his Government is building a road into Karamui to bring out its rich cocoa and other agriculture produce to market.
The Karamui road is one of 66 roads all over the country funded by the Marape Government to help bring out its rich cocoa and other produce to market.
“We are now building a road into Karamui, small as it may be, but there is consistent effort now for the first time,” Marape tells the crowd at the launching.
“Hopefully, by 2025, when the nation celebrates 50 years of iIndependence, Karamui is also smiling because the road has reached them.
“That road is not a wasted road.
“That road will go towards unlocking one of the agricultural hubs of our country.
“Karamui is known to produce the biggest cocoa and the most-organic cocoa, and any other agriculture crop you can imagine, in this hinterland between the coast and Highlands.
Marape thanks the Chimbu Provincial Government, particularly Governor Michael Dua, for bringing the event up to his province.
“I thank the Chimbu Provincial Government for taking the expo up there into the mountains,” he says.
Governor Dua recently presented K1.25 million to the PNG Cocoa Board to stage the event in Chimbu.
Marape also thanks Karamui-Nomane MP Geoffrey Kama, for his support of the cocoa industry in his district as well as all other Chimbu MPs.
He says incentives of his government to support agriculture will continue in 2022, following on from this year.
This follows on from the initial K50 million rolled out this year to the various commodities.
Marape says the K200 million to Bank South Pacific (BSP and National Development Bank (NDB) for small-to-medium-enterprise (SME) loans, which includes those in agriculture, will also continue.
“Our price support will remain, our freight subsidy will remain, our partnerships with districts will remain, and we’re looking to assist those who are already helping themselves,” he says.
“Government will link farmers to facilities we are setting up, so that agriculture produce can bring in the foreign exchange we need and empower our citizens.”

Marape says his government has allocated funding to BSP and NDB to loan to SMEs, which includes those in agriculture.
He said K200 million had been allocated last year and this year.
“This (SME funding) is for those who want to work hard,” Marape says.
“My government does not believe in handouts, we believe in those who want to work hard, you must have sweat equity. Government will put in support facilities, but you must have sweat equity, you must work hard yourself.”
Marape says PNG is “rich” in the sense that it has so many untapped resources, including in agriculture.
“My generation of leadership believes that Papua New Guinea has every potential to be rich, in every sense,” he says.
“All agriculture, in the 462,000 square km of land we have in our country, can be used to grow cocoa, copra, coffee, oil palm, vanilla, cardamom, rubber, everything you can name in as far as agriculture is concerned.
“Of course, there’s the organic food which is served every day on our plates, we have it all in our country.”
The ‘PNG Cocoa of Excellence (CoEx) Show 2021’ will be the third programme staged so far.
The inaugural PNG CoEx was staged in Kokopo, East New Britain in 2017, and the second at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae, Morobe, in 2019.
The programme consists of two components: The PNG Cocoa of Excellence Show and the ‘National Cocoa Sampling and Tasting Competition’. The components are staged concurrently.
The purpose of the show is to celebrate PNG’s 90 per cent fine-flavoured cocoa, and to announce and award the winners and participants of the ‘National Cocoa Sampling and Tasting Competition’.
The programme is the entry point for PNG cocoa producers to participate in the International Cocoa Awards (ICA), an international event that recognises the quality and exceptional flavours of cocoa varieties produced around the world, as well as the knowhow of those who produce it.
The final stage of the ‘National Cocoa Sampling and Tasting Competition’, which is the tasting and sampling (judging), will coincide with the PNG CoEx Show. The purpose of the competition is to select cocoa samples from cocoa cooperative societies, cocoa plantations and/ or individual cocoa farmers from around the country to reach a consensus as to which are the best six samples, which will be sent to the ICA,
PNG, as a cocoa-producing country, is obligated by the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) to host such a show and competition as part of its Cocoa of Excellence (CoEx) Programme. For this year, both events will be staged concurrently in Kundiawa, Chimbu. The events will be co-hosted with the
Chimbu Provincial Government and Administration.
The programme is also a unique opportunity to promote and command higher prices for our farmers whose livelihoods are dependent on cocoa.
Further information on the PNG Cocoa of Excellence Show can be obtained from Adam Mera of the PNG Cocoa Board on phone and WhatsApp 70941973.

• Malum Nalu works with the Office of the Prime Minister