People encouraged to work their land

IN the eyes of career teacher Paula Toman, of Ombun Tapi village in the Nondugl local level government area, Jiwaka, poverty has crippled her people for too long.
Toman, who worked for 35 years as a secondary school teacher, tendered her resignation in 2014 and established the Gawai Women’s Enterprise.
The group comprises 38 families with Toman as director.
Poverty reduction was the main target, but the group planned to also promote equal rights for men and women to participate in economic development.
The group of 192 began with bulb onion farming selling their produce to the Simbu Farmers Marketing Ltd. But the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic disrupted their plan.
The few who continued farming shifted to Hilans Fres on Facebook, a subsidiary of Tininga Ltd, based in Mt Hagen, as their marketing point, and began supplying rice there in 2020.
Toman encouraged people to work their lands.
“Land is our single greatest asset that can work magic for us. In PNG, citizens are lucky because they own the land.
“Poverty is caused by a lack of knowledge.
“Majority of our people are crippled by poverty because they are illiterate.
“Our organisation is all about agriculture and we encourage people to grow bulb onion as a cash crop to earn an income to improve their living standard.”