Mission helping farmers boost crop quality

By JIMMY KALEBE
A TAIWANESE technical mission to PNG is continuing to help farmers improve the quality of crops for subsistence and commercial use.
More than 500 farmers have already received training and technical assistance this year.
It includes 253 farmers in Morobe who were trained and assisted in rice and vegetable farming.
Lae mission official Eric Yi-Chung Huang said they were also providing farming tools and seeds.
The mission has two fields of 1.5 hectares to produce rice seedlings for farmers.
The TCS 10 rice is the best variety that suits the PNG climate and was brought from Taiwan 15 years ago.
Huang said the 1.5 hectares of rice at Bubia outside Lae would be harvested and the seedlings given to small-scale farmers.
“Our job is to make sure small-scale farmers and families are equipped with better knowledge and skills as well as tools to improve cultivation,” Huang said.
Asked how they assist in the marketing side of it, Huang said indirectly, the mission helps local farmers to market their produce by taking part in field days where major companies are invited to a display of a variety of food crops by local farmers.
The mission has been working closely with partners such as the National Agricultural Research Institute and Department of Agriculture and Livestock to assist farmers.