Plans to stop beef import
THE Government aims to stop the import of beef by producing its own supply, says Agriculture and Livestock Minister John Simon.
Simon said during the swearing in of the Livestock Development Corporation (LDC) board that the country imported 14,000 tonnes of beef a year.
He said the Government planned to revive the livestock sector to meet domestic demand through the LDC.
Secretary for the Department of Agriculture and Livestock and LDC chairman Daniel Kombuk said: “LDC activities has scaled down drastically over the years and we have a lot of work to do.
“Actually, today you cannot see any cattle in Papua New Guinea.
“We only have a few stocks and we need to beef up the livestock activities in Papua New Guinea.”
Kombuk said K300 million was spend on importing beef annually which was a lot of money.
“These are big challenges for us.
“All our cattle ranches have been run down but we are trying to revive all.”
Kombuk said there was a submission to the National Executive Council to establish a cattle quarantine facility in Central.
4 comments
Problem is it is a very difficult job to nurture beef cattle in climates like PNG’s. Fiji has been producing beef cattle for decades, but meat is very poor quality and the best still imported from Australia.
Problem is it is a very difficult job to nurture beef cattle in climates like PNG’s. Fiji has been producing beef cattle for decades, but meat is very poor quality and the best still imported from Australia.
Its worth trying than not. PNG needs to beef up the cattle industry and create the much needed employment. I believe it requires better management in order to get it right this time. Beef is a very expensive item on the supermarket shelves now so the more we produce the better it is for our consumers.
It’s worth a try. If the economy has to be improved in terms of trade deficit, this is one area to cut down on kina going out of the country.
Other areas need to be address as well like forestry.
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