Next agro-drive to include small livestock, spices and coconut

A World Bank (WB) team last month conducted a 10-day visit to Bougainville, East New Britain and East Sepik gauge the effectiveness of the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP) as it prepares to wind down on Dec 31. The National’s Senior Writer MALUM NALU reports the last stop – East Sepik.

EAST Sepik’s Maprik is globally famed for its vanilla – making Papua New Guinea (PNG) the second-largest vanilla producer in the world.
However, the World Bank (WB)’s Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP) is transforming the one-crop province into cocoa and coffee-producing havens as well.
The US$94 million (K317.7 million) PPAP, approved on April 29, 2010, and signed on Aug 9, 2010, is winding down on Dec 31.
The PNG Agriculture Commercialisation and Diversification (PACD) project, if approved by the Government, is likely to ride on PPAP’s 10-year momentum of agro-development drive.
The PACD will include three other produce – small livestock, spices and coconut.

Areka … driving rehabilitation of coffee production with 839 growers in Sepik Central
East Sepik’s Maprik is famed for its vanilla and has made Papua New Guinea the world’s second-largest producer. But it is also today known for its coffee and cocoa productions.
In Ami Junction, a new coffee factory is being set up with the help of PPAP to revive coffee production in the province. The coffee factory is an initiative of Anton Areka of Weni & Mandol Investment Ltd (WMI), a PPAP lead partner driving rehabilitation of coffee production with 839 growers in Sepik Central working the land from Yangoru to Maprik and Drekikir.
Currently, growers pay a high cost of transporting coffee to Wewak at K25 to K30 per bag. Also, they go through three agents to sell their coffee. The dry processing mill will service all growers, inclusive of those under the partnership in the four districts – Maprik, Yangoru-Saussia, Wosera-Gawi and Ambunti-Drekikir.
Growers from Nuku and Lumi districts of neighbouring West Sepik will also benefit from the factory which features a storage shed.
“The facility also houses a coffee mill and a wet factory.We are hoping this will spur farmers to boost production,” Areka said.
He said what used to be land covered by sago palms and forests had now been transformed into the factory.
“Over the last six months, we have put up this factory. Space has been reserved for expansion plans and development to meet production increases,” he added.
“In about three months, machinery will be brought in from Wewak and installed. By end of the year, everything should be installed.
“However, to get it running, we need electricity, which is beyond what we can do,” he lamented.
Areka said WMI, since becoming lead partner in 2016, had also been conducting training and education programmes for farmers on coffee husbandry, financial management, gender equality, HIV/AIDS and others.
“We hope the programmes will make the coffee farmers more competent in coffee production management, thereby lifting production for Maprik.
“In the early 60s and 70s, East Sepik was the leader in producing Robusta coffee. But, when farmers ventured into other crops, namely cocoa and the vanilla, coffee production dipped to 60 metric tonnes.
“In 2018, WMI, with PPAP’s intervention, coffee production was raise to 85 metric tonnes. We hope that this year and onwards, we will be able to up production to 200, or even 300 metric tonnes.
“This new factory, which will also have a nursery and a training facility, should help us to increase production,” he added.

Hombunaka … motivation for farmers go big in growing coffee beans in East Sepik
East Sepik’s coffee industry is set to flourish with the completion of a new factory in Maprik, says PPAP coffee manager Potaisa Hombunaka.
“The coffee industry in East Sepik will take its rightful status in PNG’s coffee industry,” he added.
“In the early 60s and 70s, coffee in this province was a very important industry. With the demise of the Sepik Produce Cooperative Association, coffee lost its significance in this part of the country.
“With this intervention brought by the PNG Government through WB’s financing and with the management of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and PPAP, there is potential for this province to make a comeback as a significant contributor to the country’s coffee production,” he added.
Hombunaka said PPAP’s input into the project was through funding and mobilisation of factory parts from Wewak to Maprik.
“We hope that we can also support them to make this factory become operational,” he said.
“I am looking forward to CIC giving a processing license to our lead partner, WMI, plus an export licence, so that from next year onwards, coffee will be processed here and exported via Wewak port.
“This is a real motivation for farmers to start going big in growing coffee beans in East Sepik,” he added.

Sahake … from 300 green bean bags in 2017 to 1,444 the following year
East Sepik PPAP coffee coordinator Herman Sahake says there has been a notable increase in coffee production in the province since the introduction of the project in 2017.
“In 2018, after only a year, we exported four-and-a-half containers. We are slowly but surely seeing the socio-economic impact of coffee East Sepik. We produced 300 green bean bags in 2017. In 2018, we exported 1,444 green bean bags, so we are already seeing an increase in production.”
Sahake said 817 coffee gardens had been rehabilitated under the PPAP, with training provided to farmers on financial literacy, HIV-AIDS awareness, nutrition and good decision-making.
“We have also distributed materials like knapsacks, film rolls, gum boots and tools to the farmers,” he said.
Sahake said the new coffee factory was a milestone for Maprik.
“CIC employees and local workmen will install the facilities in the factory,” he said.
“We are looking forward to completing the factory building end of this year, with commissioning planned for early next year.
“We begin trial runs and it will have to be certified by CIC. Once that is done, we can start exporting coffee out of East Sepik.
“This will be the first coffee facility in Maprik and will be producing 100 bags per run,” he added.

Yandi … cocoa farmers need a fermentery
Cocoa farmer Bruno Yandi from remote Wosera-Gawi’s Alimbi Village wants a fermentery facility to be set up.
“I am very happy with the work that PPAP is doing but farmers need such a fermentery,” he said.
“We come from a very remote area where there are no roads. What will you do to help us?” he asked.

Betty … looking forward to our first cocoa harvest
Maprik woman cocoa grower Betty Joshua says the clonal seedlings supplied by the PPAP are growing very well.
“My cocoa trees are already branching out and are close to flowering. Thirty-one (31) have died and I will be getting replacements from the nursery (at Hayfield). We are very happy that the PPAP has supplied us with the seedlings to replace the old cocoa trees. We are all looking forward to our first harvest.
“Many other cocoa growers, who are not registered with PPAP, also want to benefit from the project. We are also grateful for the tools that we received,” she added.

Vuvul … supervising five PPAP-funded roads in East Sepik
Civil engineer Rolly Vuvul is supervising five PPAP-funded roads in East Sepik: Four in Maprik and one in Yangoru.
“We also have one road to be completed in Madang, which is the Yale-Transgogl,” he said.
Vuvul said the road which the World Bank team visited in Maprik, the Ami-Ningalem Feeder Road, was 4.8km long.
“We hope to complete the road in early October. We are allowing an extension of time because of wet weather.
“One road which has been completed with FOWIAD (Foundation for Women in Agriculture Development) partnership is the Kiame Road across the Amuk River.
“The other one at Jame is 2.1km and is from Maprik and up the mountains. The Ami-Ningalem feeder road is a K2.7 million contract that involved clearing and placing a gravel pavement.
“We intend to seal sections of the road and are still working on the pricing with sealing companies,” he added.

Imara … cocoa clones distributed to farmers to boost production
Hayfield PPAP assistant project manager Rosemary Imara says cocoa clones were distributed to farmers to boost production. “The nursery here is run by PPAP lead partner FOWIAD. We also sell seedlings to those who want to buy from us,” Rosemary said.
“Sustainability of this nursery after the PPAP is gone is very important for cocoa cooperatives in Maprik.
“We only have cocoa seedlings in the nursery now. We also have cluster nurseries in other parts of Maprik.
“Through those cluster nurseries, we were able to distribute to farmers,” she said, adding that training for farmers were also conducted in Maprik, besides giving away tools.

Forman … PPAP momentum can boost PACD’s implementation
WB senior agriculture specialist Stephane Forman, who is PNG’s PPAP leader, says the project has been an overwhelming success nationwide through the sheer hard work of farmers and supervisors.
“This working trip has very interesting. We learnt much from failures and success,” he said in his visit to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, East New Britain and East Sepik to gauge the status of the project. We now understand the need for a six-month extension of the PPAP. But the two PMUs (project management units of cocoa and coffee) have made much developmental progress.
“Most of the partnerships are very well advanced with all clones distributed in cocoa, with coffee having done an excellent job on the marketing side, with the establishment of coffee factories that will enable smallholder farmers to market their coffee beans.
“It was a great trip for this WB team and we have seen a few roads that are in good shape, the contractors have done a very good job. We are very happy with the 10-day mission on the field,” he added.
Forman said the PPAP had made good use of the funding support from the WB, IFAD and the EU (European Union).
“The bulk of the funds went to the farmers through the lead partners to buy tools, get training, cocoa clones, the establishing of nurseries and fermenteries.
“The funds had been put to good use under the partnerships. The feeder roads built are in very good condition.
“There is another mission this month with the WB civil engineer inspecting all those roads. We are now very confident that the money will be used wisely by Dec 31 when the project expires,” he added.
Forman said some aspects of PPAP were complicated in decision-making, governance, the remoteness and lack of infrastructure and logistics.
“Given those difficult conditions, we are very pleased with what PPAP has achieved to date. Of course it can also be better.
“Some experiences can also be learned and that will serve the implementation of the new project, the PNG Agriculture Commercialisation and Diversification (PACD) project, if approved (by the Government).
“We’ll try to do even better during PACD. We have achieved the objective of increasing the income of smallholder farmers, of increasing production and productivity of cocoa and coffee in the gardens,” he added. Forman said the next step was to have the PACD approved and “we are waiting for the NEC (National Executive Council) decision to negotiate”.
“We really hope the PACD can be approved before the end of the year to benefit from the PPAP momentum.
“Given the increase in capacity-building under the PPAP, the PACD can be implemented more efficiently and faster.
“The kick-off and implementation can take off almost immediately.
“We are also very pleased that under the PACD, three additional commodities had been added to include small livestock, spices and coconut.
“We really hope that the service delivery model of the PPAP will also help improve the value chain of the three commodities,” he added.