Partners meeting in Markham to discuss land use for agro

A LAND access guide created by Grow PNG has brought Government, Markham oil palm landowners and Ramu agri-industry together to discuss land use.
The organisation facilitated trainings through the guide for land use by potential investors for agri-business development.
Through the guide, a meeting was held for agribusiness development by landowners from integrated land groups along Markham valley, district authority, and provincial administration with Ramu Agri-Industry Ltd (Rail) at Umi on Friday.
Grow PNG is an affiliated programme under Grow Asia, which is a multi-faceted agriculture organisation publicly funded by other large organisations and donor agencies.
Executive director John Simango said they were a multi-stakeholder platform that connected farmers to markets.
“We are focused in Markham to grow the economy of the valley in agribusiness,” he said.
“We have done a lot of work and one of them is land access.
“Our work in land access is basically to train incorporated land group (ILG) executives and landowners so they can feel comfortable to offer their land for development.”
Simango said they had started with 21 ILGs in Markham. He said the ILGs had agreed to have their land developed, initially for oil palm but with other crops and even livestock (cattle) as well.
“This meeting is a culmination of work we did in land access and unlocking of land for the ILGs,” he said.
“We’re happy to facilitate this meeting between the investor, Government and landowners.
“We’ve brought two different partners for development to find a way forward.”