Oil palm development will destroy our land

 I WOULD like to inform all Sepik Plain landowners not to sell their land for oil palm development to enslave your children and grandchildren in the future.

Oil palm will destroy the soil and loss of hunting and gardening land, which have sustained our past generations. 

I am totally against my brother and Minister Richard Maru for support this slave industry as we only harvest raw products and send to Malaysia to produce finished products and sell back at higher prices.

I will support Minister Tomscoll’s plan to ban rice imports and support the local small scale rice industry managed by landowners on the large flood plains of Sepik. 

Rice will make people become productive and will also alleviate poverty and minimise food security issues compared to vast oil palm land that enslaves our people and in the long term destroys the usefulness of the land.

Thomas Vinit, Via email