Plantation sector’s production data outdated, says Ame

THERE has been no recent study done to estimate the cost of production of either the plantation or smallholder sector, the vice-minister for Agriculture and Livestock ,Henry Ame, says.
He said the last study was in 2001 for plantations and smallholders.
“With increasing emphasis on the use of farm inputs and rising transport costs, it will be useful to also know the cost of production trends and income levels to estimate the profitability of smallholder farms and micro, small and medium enterprises in the coconut industry,” he said.
Ame said copra production had fluctuated between 60,000 tonnes and 146,500 tonnes between 2007 and 2016.
“Of the 13 provinces that grow and produce coconuts, only six have produced copra in the past five years,” he said.
“These provinces in order of the volume of production share are East New Britain (169,838 metric tonnes – 41 per cent), Autonomous Region of Bougainville (98,491 metric tonnes – 24 per cent), Madang (83,883 metric tonnes – 20 per cent), West New Britain (29,042 metric tonnes – seven per cent), Milne Bay (21,210 metric tonnes – 5 per cent) and New Ireland (9793 metric tonnes – 2.3 per cent).
He said the two major traditional copra export destinations for PNG were the Philippines and Australia.
“However, in 2016, the major export destinations for Papua New Guinea copra were Philippines (75 per cent), Bangladesh (14 per cent), Singapore (seven per cent), and Malaysia (4 per cent).”