Mining villages eye coffee, vanilla farming

HIDDEN Valley mine communities in Bulolo, Morobe,  will go into coffee and vanilla farming and processing apart from enjoying mining royalty benefits.
A total of 98 coffee farmers from seven Biangai villages attended a three-week training at Biawen village run by the Niugini Coffee and Tea and Spice Co Ltd.
This was initiated by Morobe Mining Joint Venture (MMJV) to help people grow and value their cash crop commodities.
MMJV and the trainers signed a memorandum of understanding to run four coffee and vanilla training sessions respectively for the Biangai communities under the MoU.
Six other training workshops, which also involves business, would also be conducted for upper, lower and middle Watut communities.
Coffee nurseries were  established in each of the villages while 17 coffee pulpers and 40 pruning secateurs were distributed.
Follow-up meetings evaluation would be done every six months while a database survey was scheduled every three months.