Officer: Lack of roads, bridges affecting cocoa, coffee farming

National

By ROSELYN ELLISON
LACK of proper roads and bridges are making people lose interest in cocoa and coffee farms in East New Britain (ENB).
ENB division of primary industry (DPI) officer Lynette Samuel said due to the lack of these basic services, farmers had gone into farming other crops – those that were easily transported across rivers.
Three wards – Rieit-Dadul, Arabam-Maranagi and Rigel – in the Sinivit local level government in Pomio have abandoned cocoa and coffee.
Samuel, who is the DPI station manager based at Arabam, said the destruction of road system resulted in farmers in the area lacking interest.
She said there was no regular visits by stakeholders in the coffee industry over the years.
“The option that the three wards are looking at it is balsa and they have already had discussions with a potential investor,” she said.
Samuel said the communities once enjoyed a good road network system but it was washed out during a heavy downpour and flooding several years back.