Minister happy with agencies’ progress with boosting cocoa

AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister John Simon says he is impressed with the level of effort being put into boosting cocoa as one of the main commodities in the country’s agriculture sector.
Simon, who attended a PNG Cocoa Board presentation in Kokopo, East New Britain, on Monday following a National Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Authority (Naqia) board meeting in Kavieng, New Ireland, was impressed with strategies and plans set in place by both government agencies.
While in Kokopo, he was taken on a tour of different locations, including one of the province’s largest cocoa producing villages, Bitavavar, and then to Tavilo Research Centre in Kerevat. At Tavilo, Simon was presented with first-hand information on best methods in managing cocoa plants and pods as well as the different types of cocoa pods.
Later in the day, senior scientists at the research institute presented different methods on research to ensure cocoa continues to be protected and managed well.
However, one of the main issues that was identified was that funding.
It was a major hurdle in moving research forward.
Simon assured the centre that he would look into the matter immediately as research was a core priority that would support the industry.
Meanwhile, Simon added that his visits with other commodity boards including the Coffee Industry Corporation, Naqia and Rubber Board had shown that although there was still space for improvement, it was obvious that there was a lot of work and effort being put into boosting these respective commodities.
“DAL (Department of Agriculture and Livestock) is the backbone of this country,” he said.
“Agriculture has been our survival technique for years and if we can take advantage of this to bring in revenue at a much larger scale than what we are receiving at the moment, Papua New Guinea will be on a whole new level.”