Single marketing arm for coffee eyed

COFFEE producers in Goroka have been urged to consider a single marketing and promotion entity that will promote locally-produced organic coffee overseas.
University of PNG lecturer Prof Chalapan Kaluwin has proposed the idea to Avute and Davinia coffee producers in Goroka.
Prof Kaluwin, who is senior technical adviser to the national strategic plan (NSP) taskforce, is in Goroka to attend this year’s national education conference.
He told the farmers there was an enormous potential for organic PNG coffee overseas, stressing that this was an option that had not been thoroughly looked into.
“I want to see aspiring Papua New Guineans own the coffee chain from the tree to the cup anywhere in the world,” Prof Kaluwin told the producers at Avute and Davinia during separate meetings.
Prof Kaluwin and NSP adviser Joseph Sukwianomb, visited the coffee producers   to promote local wealth-creation concept as part of the NSP.
He said the unique flavour of PNG organic coffee commanded top price in the world market, adding that careful handling of the coffee marketing chain would pay huge dividends for the economy.
Prof Kaluwin, who has widely travelled overseas, said a single entity to handle all marketing and promotion of PNG coffee at the international level would cut off unnecessary expenses and take the coffee industry to new heights.
Avute Coffee managing director Huk Avute agreed, saying that the country needed a single marketing entity for its coffee.
He said for too long, middlemen who did not even own a single coffee tree had capitalised on the ignorance of farmers.