Rubber can boost economy: Kennie

Business

A RUBBER farmer in Papua New Guinea can earn as much as K170,000 a year from cup lump sales alone, according to the PNG Rubber board chairwoman Josephine Kennie.
Kennie said rubber trees produced around 279 kilograms of latex per year. So if a farmer owns 500 trees and sells cup lumps at K1.20 per kilogram, she or he could earn as much as K167,400 a year.
“And that’s a lot of money for a simple villager,” she said.
She was in Kavieng, New Ireland, on Monday with Agriculture and Livestock department secretary Dr Vele Pat Ila’ava to sign a rubber development agreement with the New Ireland provincial government, landowners and the developer.
Kennie and Ila’ava also presided over the declaration of NID registrations for rubber farmers in 12 villages of New Hanover (Lavongai).
It is where the multi-million Central New Hanover agro-integrated project is situated.
She also presented a rubber export licence to the landowner company New Hanover Industries Ltd.
For nearly two decades, the PNG Rubber Board had been in disarray and remained defunct due to lengthy court battles over positions.