Morobe in need of green bean coffee mill: Official

By MAZIE SELMBIA
THE coffee industry in Morobe needs a green bean mill and storage facilities, says Unen Choit Coffee Growers Cooperative director Terry Mollok.
Mollok said the biggest challenge faced by the coffee farmers in Morobe was the lack of a coffee mill.
“We grow our coffee, pay for freight to bring it to Lae and then we are told that there is not enough space for our coffee to be stored for milling,” Mollok said.
He said mill owners were foreigners who influenced the market by not allowing farmers to sell to their own buyers.
“For our cooperative, we are certified for supplying specialty coffee and have our own buyers. All we need is a locally-owned green bean mill to assist us,” Mollok said.
He said because there was no green bean mill, farmers were forced to take their bags of coffee to Goroka for milling before bringing them back to Lae to be shipped out.
“It is an expensive exercise,” Mollok said.
“The provincial government should build a green bean factory in Lae for us to mill our coffee beans and sell it directly to our buyers without getting influenced by foreign mill owners who have their own buyers.”
The three mills available in the province are Agmark, Wia Trade and Outspan Limited.
The cooperative has 1750 farmers clustered into four groups from the Morobe and Madang hinterlands of Tewae Siassi, Kabwum and Bundi.
Coffee in Morobe is mostly grown in the hinterlands and mountainous regions.