Sector needs more funding to generate revenue: Officer

By DALE LUMA
THE agriculture sector can generate more than K10 billion in revenue a year for the Government if its budget appropriations are increased, says Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) secretary Daniel Kombuk.
Kombuk told The National that the sector needed about K2 billion annually in budget allocations to enhance it and help generate high returns.
“Agriculture still holds a big potential for economic sustainability,” he said.
“If the Government puts K2 billion every year into agriculture, it can be able to bring in K10 billion a year and more than that,” he said.
“Over the years, the Government has been putting less than two per cent which is not much.
“To alleviate poverty and improve rural cash flow, the Government has to invest more in agriculture because this is where our potential is.”
Kombuk said the country needed to improve its livestock industry as well as develop the rice and grain industry while there was scope to do more for fruits and vegetables.
“When we talk about quality production, the breed and variety that will come into play is also essential,” he said.
“We have to take in improved vegetables, coffee breeds, cocoa breeds for high productivity to increase commercial volume for PNG to generate revenue to increase foreign exchange.”
Kombuk said the Government planned to have a 30 per cent increase in agriculture production by the end of 2022 but it also had to make funding available for the department and sector in general.