Produce on commercial scale: Lera

COCOA farmers in Bougainville have been told to shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming.
Regional Member and Minister for Bougainville Affairs Joseph Lera was speaking to 70 farmers who took part in a plantation management course in North and Central Bougainville last week.
He said the conservative way of farming must be changed to empower people through new agriculture training and enhance economic prosperity.
Lera said for this to come into place, people must understand and add more value to the cocoa production chain to achieve downstream processing.
“We cannot continue to export cocoa beans,” he said.
“It’s about time we start empowering ourselves to do commercial farming – manufacturing our commodities into finished products.”
Lera said Bougainville had the potential to manufacture its own agriculture products for overseas markets.
“Training and education is an important component of enhancing the quality of manpower to foster development,” he said.