Noda the marita man

By WALLY AINUI
AN Eastern Highlands villager who dropped out from Faniufa Primary School in 1975 due to illness has established a mini-industry that specialises in extracting organic products from locally grown food crops such as red fruit, avocado, kuikui nuts, karuka nuts and chilly among others.
The semi-finished products are readily available for consumptions and other uses.
Obusere Noda, 48, hails from Masumave village, located at the foot of the Unggai mountain ranges in Unggai-Bena District, has been living all his life in the village and has no formal education.
His interest to venture into this untapped industry of producing organic products from traditional food crops began in 2012, when he was reading health magazines and books on food crops that have medicinal properties which can cure and prevent diseases caused by today’s lifestyle.
A book titled Back to Eden inspired him to start the mini-industry.
With the information he got from the health magazines and books, he was most interested in the medicinal benefits and products from the Red fruit crop that can cure and prevent a number of killer diseases. He was also interested in the crop’s traditional and cultural health value. Such knowledge has been passed down by ancestors down to today’s generation.
In 2013, Noda made up his mind to venture into this untapped business and established Noda Organic Product at his Masumave Village. He built a semi-permanent building where he started producing – on trial basis – oils, sauces, soaps, jam and powder from Red Fruit.
Red fruit (Pandanus Conoideus) is a plant in the pandanus family. There are about 30 cultivars of red fruit but only fourvarieties (long red, short red, brown and yellow) have high economic value and medicine benefits, and the fruit is eaten in many parts of the country.
In Papua New Guinea, the red fruit is known as marita and a red sauce is produce from it called marita sauce and it is a ketch-up like substance which is used to flavour food.
Red fruit is found in all mainland provinces particularly in the Highlands and Momase regions and parts of Manus and West New Britain. It has traditional and cultural values with health benefits that can help cure Aids, hepatitis, cancer, prevent strokes, diabetes, has rich calcium to avoid osteoporosis, improve brain function, resolve eye disorders and lower uric acid.
The initial stages of organic production by Goroka Noda Organic Product was a trial-and-error period during which Noda failed several times to produce the expected results from red fruit but that only led to more hard work which eventually resulted in organic products that with health benefits.
A breakthrough came in 2014 when samples of the marita products taken for testing at the Chemistry Department of the University of Goroka were sent to a university in Australia for testing. The tests showed positive results that met the required standard and contained medicine benefits to cure and prevent diseases.
With the positive results from the samples received from Australia, Goroka Noda Organic Product employed three village youths to assist at the village processing plant and started producing organic products from red fruit.
Organic products they started producing were: 1) Marita oil (red) to boost the immune system, support heart health, blood circulation and balance cholesterol; 2) Marita cream (red) for skin moisture, common skin diseases; and 3) Marita sauce (red/orange) for common diseases.
With the success in producing marita products and growing clientele, the founder of Goroka Noda Organic Product used his God-given talent to venture into producing organic products from other food crops besides red fruit. He began producing avocado oil and cream, noni juice, kuikui oil, karuka oil and spice products (turmeric/chilly).
These products also have medicinal benefits and are in great demand. To meet the demand Noda produces in bulk containers, bottles and in sealed plastic bags, with their selling price ranging from K5 to K30.
Noda says, “Today, many Papua New Guineans are buying and eating imported foods including soap and oil products especially from Asian shops that can cause cancer and other diseases within our bodies.”
He is encouraging people to buy the local organic products that are healthy for the body, so that they can live a longer. Noda thanks God for richly blessing Papua New Guinea with natural resources he is now using to produce organic health products.
Noda has his own challenges admitting that he could not cope with the high demand from his customers due to the small machines he operates now and needs bigger machines to increase production. Also, the current building used for processing and storage of finish product has very little space and a larger building is needed.
Transport is another problem Noda faces to do his business trips. He travels from his Masumave Village by PMV to Goroka town (a 10 minute drive) and walks to deliver his products to his clients in their officers. Most of his clients work in government offices and private businesses, University of Goroka, Goroka Hospital, Marie Stopes and the Institute of Medical Research.
A mobile phone is the only means of communication to conduct business with his clients.
He has been in operation since 2013 and his product have been recognised by notable institutions. Some have invited the him on several occasions to attend national events to showcase the products. Some major events that he has been invited to are the National Agricultural Research Institute (Nari) Show in Lae (2018) Morobe Show in Lae (2016) Goroka Show (2016) Mercy Works Women’s Show in Kundiawa, SME display for Apec leaders in Goroka (2018). He has been invited for several events again that will take place towards the end of the year including the Apec leaders meeting next month.
Noda is appealing to the Government and authorities to recognise and provide financial assistance and promote mini-industries such as Goroka Noda Organic Product to assist them in their struggle to operate. He says his products have medicinal benefits to cure and prevent diseases.
With business growing and gaining popularity in Eastern Highlands, Noda is looking at bigger things.
“Goroka Noda Organic Product is a mini-industry and still in its infant stages and my dream is that one day my products can be exported overseas.”
And his dream may become a reality as he hopes to attract international investors with his products next month when Goroka hosts the international delegates who will be in the Eastern Highlands capital for an Apec meeting.
Anyone interested in organic products produced by Goroka Noda Organic Product, can contact Noda on 72782191 for more information.

• Wally Ainui is a freelance writer.