Partnership aims to help 25,000 farmers in six provinces

By DALE LUMA
THE Centre for Excellence in Financial Literacy (Cefi) has signed a partnership agreement with Care International PNG to roll out its family farm team training technical assistance project.
The project comes under the K38 million market for village farmers projects and will target 25,000 farmers in six provinces which include Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Eastern Highlands and East New Britain.
The programme is aimed at enhancing farmers’ businesses and earning potential and is expected to start in October or November.
Care International PNG country director Justin McMahon said the project was discussed for three years and would affect the lives of 25,000 farming families.
“It will make quite a profound impact on peoples’ lives,” McMahon said.
Cefi executive director Saliya Ranasinghe said the market for rural farmers projects was unique and a flagship project for agriculture in the country.
He said agriculture in PNG was generally looked at as a subsistence activity and people did not look at it from a commercial perspective but the programme aimed to get more farmers involved in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to maximise their earning potential.
“There is a huge technical assistance component that will facilitate this,” McMahon said.
“Our partnership with Care PNG will facilitate in building the capacity if the farmers to sustain the gains that they will get and improve the lives of the people in the long term.”