PM’s support for agri gets backing

AGRICULTURE and Livestock Department (ALD) acting secretary Daniel Kombuk has commended Prime Minister James Marape for making agriculture a priority for his Government.
He said agriculture was the mainstay of the country’s economy and needed full Government support.
“I am humbled by the PM’s commitment towards agriculture,” he said.
“This is the sector that will continue to sustain our country’s economy after the life of the extractive industries is gone.
“ALD stands ready to work with the new Government in pursuing a new policy agenda and initiatives to promote and expand the growth of the sector, including enabling active engagement of farmers,” he said.
Kombuk urged agriculture development partners to be prepared to align with the Government’s initiatives and policies.
“Papua New Guinea needs to embrace technology to improve and raise the quality horticultural production while utilising improved crop and livestock varieties to boost the economy.
“The world has moved and developed countries have grown their economies through biotechnology. We must be ready to accept and embrace those changes in agriculture innovation if we want to compete with the rest of the world to be a major player in agriculture.
“Biotechnology is about promoting improved plant and animal breeding to increase quality production to meet our ever-increasing domestic market demands, processing and for export under organic certification to earn much-needed foreign reserves.
“PNG needs to adopt some of the more-advanced farming technologies developed and used by countries like Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the US and some of the Asian countries.”