Partnership to help local farmers, cut back imports

By CLARISSA MOI
THE RH Hypermarket, in partnership with Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA), is working with local farmers to supply fresh produce to reduce imports.
Assistant manager Phil Ager said four years ago they began with a mission statement of the RH Hypermarket to support local communities.
“Within the Mt Hagen area and outlying areas such as Western, Southern, Enga and Chimbu, there are some 22,000 farmers,” he said.
“These farmers are supplying not only to the wholesale markets, but also to the supermarkets in Port Moresby.
“Because there are so many farmers, we have selected the farmers that we consider can supply enough in required volumes.
“They fully understand that quality is so important, given we also supply many hotels and restaurants with our local produce sourced.”
Ager said they also looked at ways where they could buy direct through utilising airfreight services within the country.
“Buying locally goes a long way to helping these communities financially,” he said.
“Sea freight is currently being worked on, providing the produce meets our strict quality standards, as it takes up to three full days for sea freight but only one hour for air freight.”
Ager said getting produce out of remote areas could be challenging for varied reasons such as cultural issues, road closures, and truck or machinery breakdowns.
“It takes about 12 hours in a truck from Mt Hagen to reach Lae,” he said.
“Of course, this for many reasons can be challenging to our suppliers.
“We have received terrific feedback from the FPDA, farmers and our customers in Port Moresby thanking us for wanting to work closely with provinces.”