Plotting a rice field

By MALUM NALU
Deep in the Markham Valley on Thursday, Dec 22, 2016

BEHIND us is Lae, to our right is Madang, straight ahead is Goroka.
It’s a sweltering hot day as we stop at Ragiampun village, near Watarais, to drop off my cousin Gewa and her husband Mathew Maran, who is from here.
How green is the valley after the recent rains, a far cry from drought, when it becomes a dust bowl.
We are on our way to Kol Ples Goroka where we plan to spend Christmas. The place brings back memories of more than 20 years ago in 1996 when, as a young reporter for The National in Lae, I covered the now-infamous incident where police from Goroka raided Watarais Market – then a thriving crossroads market of Morobe, Madang and Eastern Highlands – and torched and destroyed
several Markham villages.
The physical and emotional scars of that incident still remain and Watarais has never quite regained its glory days.
As we drive into the Maran household, we pass a huge tract of ploughed land, and I wonder what it’s for: perhaps for oil palm which is now growing in the valley like wildfire, perhaps cocoa?
We stop at the Maran’s place for lunch of traditional Markham marafri (bananas in coconut cream cooked in clay pots), washed down with kulau (fresh young coconuts).
As we have lunch, a big, red tractor drives up and a young man jumpsout and wipes the sweat from his brow – a true farmer, needless to say.
It’s John Maran, eldest son of Gewa and Mathew, whom I haven’t seen for many years. The tractor, I later learn, was one of eight bought on tender from nearby Ramu Agri Industries Ltd for a giveaway K100 each.
He joins us for lunch and tells me of how he is spearheading the biggest commercial rice farm in the country with the support of Trukai Industries Ltd. Maran, 31, a graduate in agriculture from Sonoma Adventist College, has left the allure of city lights to be a man-of-the land with his people.
He is leading the Chingwam Rice Growers’ Cooperative of Ragiampun, which last month embarked on planting seeds for the 100-hectare farm, with harvest set for April 2017.
That harvest should reap the cooperative about K200,000.
Trukai rice development manager Humphrey Saese later confirms to me that this will be the biggest-ever commercial rice farming project in the country. Maran says lack of market opportunities had deterred the Markham people from growing rice until now.
He says an agreement was signed with Trukai in Dec 2015 with the company providing machinery, chemicals and technical advice with local people providing the land.
“We did a 10-hectare trial with 22 varieties of rice from Australia, all of which grew well,” Maran says.
“The trial was very successful.
“From the 10ha, we produced 24 tonnes of rice, which is enough to fill four 20-feet containers.
“The trial has been very successful, with very fertile soil, and we are now going into 100-ha.
“This is the biggest commercial rice farm in Papua New Guinea.
“We expected to harvest over 400- plus tonnes in April.”
Maran says Trukai paid K700 per tonne for the first harvest, with the cooperative getting more than K16,000 for its members.
“It was worth the effort and all the members were very happy,” he says.
“We are very passionate about growing rice.
“Markham Valley alone can cater for all the rice demands of PNG because of the large tracts of land that are available.
“I appeal to our people to stop land disputes, work together, and bring development to our area.
“The community is happy, people are happy, the biggest thing is improving the livelihoods of families.”
Saese says the Chingwam cooperative is spearheading a new wave of rice-growing in the country involving more than 50 ha of land.
“This is going to be the biggest commercial farm that the company (Trukai) has engaged with,” he says.
“It was the biggest with 10 ha, and now it’s going to be even bigger with 100 ha.
“The good thing is that it’s all owned by the farmers themselves.
“Their success is also a success for the company.”
Saese says it’s hoped that Chingwam will spur more rice-growing in the Markham Valley and throughout PNG with Maran as a role model for young people. Maran says agriculture is the way to go for Papua New Guinea.
“I’m happy to be working in agriculture because it’s my field,” he says.
“Everyone living on this world eats. At the end of the day, whether you’re a prime minister or a king, you will still come home and eat.
“Rice is very important, as its market starts from the local level, right up to international level.
“Those involved in oil palm buy rice to eat, those involved in cocoa buy rice to eat – the consumption rate is very high.
Maran is proud that Chingwam Rice Growers’ Cooperative is helping, albeit in a small way, to meet this high demand for rice in PNG.
As we drive out of the farm, I promise Maran that I’ll be back for the harvest.