Pruaitch hails donor programmes

Business

OPPOSITION Leader and Aitape-Lumi MP Patrick Pruiatch, pictured, says any donor-driven development programme aimed at re-awakening export earnings and creating jobs in the agriculture sector is a positive move.
Pruaitch said this in Wewak, East Sepik, on Tuesday during the launch of the European Union (EU) funding for small hold farmers of the Sepik region totalling K340 million.
The grant comes after the signing of the Enterprise Development Fund (EDF) earlier this year which was a funding of a small pilot programme in the country which created enterprises for smallholder vanilla and cocoa farmers of both East and West Sepik.
Pruaitch said during his term as Treasurer, they launched the World Bank’s Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP) programme aimed at developing the cocoa and coffee industries.
“Some growth has been achieved through that programme but a lot more needs to be done to make agriculture as the principal driver of the economic growth into the future.”