Security of land tenure vital

THE security of land tenure is paramount for investment and re-investment in any economy around the world, including PNG, New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL) country manager Robert Nilkare says.
Nilkare said NBPOL was the largest agriculture land developer in PNG and was a successful agri-business because it continuously invested in its estate development and processing facilities.
He said NBPOL had invested in land for palm oil, sugar and grazing pastures for cattle.
The total land investment and development, he said, was around 136,268ha.
This investment supported 24,000 employees which represented a direct benefit to 112,500 family members.
“The real success for NBPOL is its nucleus palm oil estate model that supports its out-growers which include smallholders, village oil palm growers and others,” Nilkare said.
“This consists of 42,000ha of land that’s developed and owned by the people, this represents direct benefits to 323,750 family members.
“Continued commercial investment in agriculture and business State leases will underpin a successful support structure to our smallholders and farmers participating in agriculture, which are already qualified as SMEs.”
Nilkare explained that the entire land holding and tenure systems for State land was based on the Torrens System which was title by registration.
The system gave certainty, security and simplicity to companies that invested or intended to invest in large-scale agriculture in PNG.
“The Torrens System is based on the State giving ultimate assurance of titles.
“It was first developed in the State of Queensland, Australia, and adopted in the Colony of Papua pre-independence in the 1800s,” he said.
“In support of Prime Minister (James) Marape, I encourage all agriculture commodity boards to work closely with the existing private sector participants in your industry and encourage more foreign investment into the agriculture sector through incentives and programmes targeting growth.”