PNG taro for NZ market

WANTOK Produce, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Institute (Nari) Enterprise Limited, will be exporting taro to New Zealand, starting with 13 tonnes.
Wantok Produce managing director Dr Pulotu Lautofa McCarthy said the partnership was to commercially produce taro to fill a market PNG presently had no share in.
“In NZ, about 76 per cent of the market is controlled by Fiji and that is because they have been there for a long time. But that does not mean we would not take the challenge.
“In the NZ market, there is no PNG product except for PNG coffee, and this is a gap that needs to be filled to satisfy the Papua New Guineans who live there.
“And this will be the first shipment.”
Agriculture Minister John Boito, the Obura-Wonenora MP, launched the exports of taro and the release of the Nari taro cultivar seeds for commercial scale planting.
Wantok Produce buys taro from farmers in Nawaeb.
Data in the past five years in the world market showed that the taro trade value had increased by six per cent when the quantity was increased by two per cent. It means that demand is exceeding supply.
Nari council chairman Nimo Kama said the release and commercialisation of the Nari taro cultivars aligned with the Government’s policy objectives of promoting commercial agriculture, downstream processing and international trade.