Markham farmers kill cattle for meat

 By PISAI GUMAR

FARMERS from Wampar in the Huon district of Morobe who are involved in a public private partnership deal to manage cattle, are said to have abandoned a deal they signed last year.

They are said to be stealing and killing the cattle for consumption at a farm in Markham.

More than 4,000 cattle from the Markham Farm in the Leron plains of Wampar, were earmarked for distribution to farmers in Morobe when the land was sold off for the development of an oil palm plantation.

The herd was nearly half of more than the 8,000 stock bought by the government for K2 million that was transferred to farms in Western Highlands, Central, and Madang by the Livestock Development Corporation.

With the remaining 4,000, Huon Gulf MP and Health Minister Sasa Zibe proposed a partnership deal for his constituents.

The deal was signed by Zibe on behalf of the national government and Coastal Solutions owner John Seymour as custodian for the 10 Wampar small holder cattlemen association at Ganef village last October.

The agreement was done under the government’s public private partnership arrangement so that farmers could take care, breed and distribute cattle to farmers all over the country with the aim to to revitalise the industry.

So far, 2,000 cattle have been distributed while 2,217 are unaccounted for. 

Many of the remaining cattle were said to be in other farms while some were believed to be killed by the farmers.