Palm oil production hampered by eruption

HARGY Oil Palms Ltd’s (HOPL) daily oil palm productions will be hampered temporarily from Mt Ulawun’s recent eruption in West New Britain, chief executive officer Ian Winstanley says.
He said they were not expecting any negative financial impact from the ash fall that covered their palm plantations and equipment.
“The team at HOPL are working hard to recover our affected operations at our Navo Estates, especially from ash fallout and have not been able to access and make a fall assessment on the ground,” Winstanley said.
“Navo Estate is still under a state of emergency (SoE) order with an exclusion risk zone of 10kms around the radius of Mt Ulawun.
“We are currently assisting 7,000 of our own employees and dependents who are in company care centres at Barema plantation and Barema mill housing compounds.
“These displaced employees and dependents are from our Navo Estate operations who can’t return to their houses due to the SOE order from the WNB disaster committee.”
He said yesterday that they had received limited food aid from the government.
“HOPL has supplied our displaced people with food aid, water, canvas shelters, water containers and our construction department has constructed extra pit toilets to improve sanitation,” he said.
“HOPL is also supplying medical aid including medications via our internal company medical clinics. We also supplying truckloads of fresh water to the government established and operated Kabaya care centre in which many of HOPL smallholder farmers are displaced.”
Winstanley said the Pandi Estate operations to the north-east of Mt Ulawun had not been affected by any ash fall from the eruption.
“Starting today (yesterday), we have resumed all oil palm fruit harvesting operations, transport and administration functions,” he said.