Shortage of resources worrying

MOMASE Agriculture and Livestock Department acting director Norbert Ao says the shortage of resources is a worry because experts are unable to visit provinces to provide services to farmers.
He said that at the closing of a one-week training camp for Suquang village farmers in Finschhafen’s Mape on Friday.
“But Momase is fortunate to have signed a Mmemorandum of agreement with Finschhafen district development authority,” he added
“We have drawn up a work plan with the authority that committed some funds to get the experts down to the district and the Local Level Government levels.”
It has been a worry to the National Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) because the experts are sitting at the national department while the farmers in provinces need services and it is hard, Ao said.
“The aim of this training is to impart skills and knowledge to farmers by officers from the department, Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC), Nasfund Limited and private service providers,” he said.
Among the topics covered were vegetable production and farm management, local feed production, and small downstream processing at the very low level.
A CIC officer was also present to teach farmers how to make coffee and cocoa powder and other products.
“These are simple skills that can be adopted by our simple villagers. They have the coffee, they have the cocoa but they need these skills to process and add value to the primary produce.
“The reactions from the farmers towards the training are very good.
“I realised that farmers wanted more of such trainings that had been designed to suit villagers,” he added.
“They needed more of such trainings but unfortunately we do not have the resources to come down to this (village) level.
“So we are asking districts and the local level governments to partner and counter-fund such trainings. We can provide the experts.”