More coffee farmers needed

 THE managing director of one of PNG’s main coffee exporters says the industry needs more famers.

Monpi Coffee operates out of Goroka, one of PNG’s largest coffee-growing regions.

Chris Anders has lived in Goroka for 30 years and says coffee from the region is very good quality.

He said that was proven recently when a supplier won third place at awards held by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

But Anders told Radio New Zealand coffee’s potential to provide people with good livelihoods is nowhere near being realised.

“We have a supply problem, if we could produce double the amount of what we do today we could sell it, easily”, he said. 

Anders also said people needed motivation to carry on in the industry. 

“You’ve got to encourage more people, transport’s part of it. I think that you’ve got to somehow encourage people to want to be a farmer and basically where in other countries people are proud to be a farmer I think that’s lacking here.”