Minister urged to weed out unproductive staff

By PISAI GUMAR
AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister Tommy Tomscoll is being urged to scrutinise delivery mechanisms at the district and council level and weed out unproductive public servants.
An agriculturalist and self-employed farmer Sammy Werie, from Rereu village in Astrolabe Bay, Madang, said agricultural extension programmes at district and local level government levels to empower and enrich rural cash crop farmers were lacking.
“Farmers wonder what’s the use of having agricultural officers in Rai­coast district and LLG levels doing nothing but driving around in government vehicles in towns at the expense of rural farmers,” Werie said.
“Agricultural activities, especially cash crops like cocoa, coffee, copra and oil palm and fresh foods can transform rural livelihoods and the economy.”
He said there were no agricultural extension programmes to educate farmers about the stages, procedures and processes of cultivating and managing crops and their harvesting, packing and exporting stages and that infrastructure like roads and bridges often did not exist.
“So the rural farmers endure double or triple issues and it has remained unsolved over the years.
“So where does all the funding for agricultural extension activity in the district and LLG go?” Werie asked.
He questioned how parliamentarians and local administrations measured their service delivery against how much they spent with what sort of priority activities.
“Road, bridges and wharves can be built but how and who will use those infrastructure when people are not empowered and enriched to produce cash crops,” he said.
“Cash crops remain a backbone but farmers need knowledge and skills of how and what to do to produce quality and volumes required.
“District administrations need to scrutinise all officers taking care of agriculture, health, transport and social development to ensure they execute their roles and responsibilities according to the people’s needs. 
“I appeal to Tomscoll to appoint an investigation team to scrutinise agricultural funding and public servants in Raicoast district and weed them out,” Werie said.