New Britain Palm Oil celebrates 50 years of operation

THE New Britain Palm Oil Limited celebrated its 50 years of operation in its plantation groups last weekend.
The highlight of the celebrations were decorated floats from the various plantations and company departments depicting the history of NBPOL which started in 1967 as a joint venture project between the national and provincial governments and the investor.
Vice-Minister for Agriculture Henry Ame congratulated the company and stakeholders and said NBPOL had shown it could progress and develop.
He said the government’s focus was on agriculture and it wanted to partner with the private sector and companies such as NBPOL to promote and grow the economy.
General manager Harry Brock said with its humble beginnings of only 2400 hectares in 1967, NBPOL was now the largest agriculture development in PNG.
It now boasts 80,000 hectares of oil palm plantations and 45,000 hectares of smallholder areas spread across West New Britain, Ramu Valley, Oro, Milne Bay and New Ireland. It has a project in the Solomon Islands.
NBPOL employs more than 23,000 people in all of its operations and supports 18,000 oil palm blocks.