PNG fresh produce key to sustaining economy

Business

THE country’s fresh produce industry is worth up to K2.5 billion annually and can sustain the country during hard economic times, Fresh Produce Development Agency general manager Mark Worinu says.
He said during the opening of the new agency office in Port Moresby on Friday that the industry was important.
“It is a K2.5 billion industry. We take it for granted but it is a serious industry. We will really have to give it the kind of support it deserves.”
Worinu said the agency was embarking on a new programme to look at government policies in terms of growing small and medium enterprises and cutting down on imports.
“We really have to support the indigenous growers. Indigenous crops are very important,” he said.
“We are hoping that what we are doing now will create a platform for us to take on government policies – budget, resourcing and everything else.
“Within our own capacity and the resources that we have, with a very good board and good management, I am confident of a good future for the fresh produce industry.”
The agency will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. It was created within the Department of Agriculture and Livestock in 1988.
It is 50 per cent owned by the department and 50 per cent by Treasury.
He said the new office at Konedobu was part of a vision to expand operations in the country, in particular the Southern region.
“Apart from this, we also have a state-of-the-art facility in Kokopo for New Guinea Islands, we have a very modern office in Mt Hagen, we have a very good office in Lae, and we are putting up a three-storey building for our head office in Goroka.”