Minister eyes Indonesia as potential market for cattle

By LULU MAGINDE
SOUTH Fly MP and newly appointed Minister for Livestock, Sekie Agisa, is eyeing Indonesia as the potential market for our livestock produce.
He said he would be looking to developing the cattle industry in his province going forward.
“Beef is a commodity that should be exported.
“There are about 250 million people in Indonesia.
“We share a land boarder and they are very big consumers of beef, but it’s unfortunate that we are yet unable to supply that demand,” he said.
He told The National about how Indonesia was a major importer and consumer of beef and that its closest neighbour PNG could potentially help supply beef and cattle to them.
He said the focus going forward needed to be on rebuilding PNG’s cattle industry and growing in order for this livestock to be an export item.
“The geographical siting of my electorate, it’s the biggest (31,000 square km), so we’ll be trying to utilise that land that has been forgotten for decades to build up a cattle industry,” he said.
“I (South Fly) don’t have mountains, it’s just plain grasslands good for raising cattle so that’s what I plan on doing,” he added.
Agisa confirmed that he had discussed with Prime Minister James Marape plans for developing PNG’s livestock industry and cattle and beef was one of the components.
“There has been so much concentration on our petroleum and mining industries so going forward we would like to focus on farming, going back to basics like agriculture.