Minister urges farmers to visit office

By PETER ESILA
AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister John Simon is urging farmers to visit respective Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) and commodity board offices in their districts and provinces for agriculture support.
Simon urged MPs to use their K1 million under their district service improvement programme (DSIP) funds and provincial service improvement programme (PSIP) funds reserved for agriculture interventions.
“All districts and provinces have been encouraged to establish buying points for their respective commodity crops,” he said.
“The Government allocated funding to districts for agriculture purposes.
“That includes DSIP, PSIP of K2 million and K1 million Covid-19 fund for agriculture interventions.
“Local MPs should use this funding to create an avenue like setting up buying points at the district level.
“That’s where commodity boards will come in.
“Commodity boards are sector agencies of DAL.
“Why can’t remote district MPs establish buying points so DAL through the commodity boards can assist farmers.”
Simon stressed that the DAL head office at Waigani, Port Moresby, only looked at policies and plans.
“Evaluation and monitoring is done at the district and provincial level,” he said.