Suau gets a boost for cocoa

AGRICULTURE

By MALUM NALU
LAIMODO is a remote, bucolic village located in Suau, Milne Bay, near the border with Central.
To get to Laimodo is a three-hour or more drive through beautiful countryside from the Milne Bay capital of Alotau.
You have high mountains on one side, and the sea on the other, with rivers and forests in between.
It is truly a land of islands and mountains.
Alotau is a huge electorate, covering the border of Central to the border with Northern, from the deep blue sea to high mountains, where vegetables and coffee normally grown in the Highlands thrive.
It is better known for tourism, particularly cruise ship tourism, which has all but dwindled to a halt over the last two years because of Covid-19.
Agriculture, and fisheries, are the only two options for the rural people to make money.
Alotau, and Milne Bay for that matter, have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons because of the exploits of criminal Tommy Baker and his gang – who are now on the run from a massive police manhunt.
On Friday, June 11, 2021, bush-trotting Agriculture and Livestock Minister John Simon, led an agricultural delegation to Laimodo.
His mission: to get the people more involved in agriculture.
Remote Suau will receive K200,000 from the Marape Government’s Agriculture Intervention Programme to develop its cocoa industry, including building a 100,000-seedling capacity nursery.
Simon announced this after launching a Milne Bay Provincial Government-funded cocoa drier.
He and his delegation also visited a hybrid cocoa garden in the village as part of his hectic three-day tour of rural Alotau to visit and talk to farmers.
Present with Simon were Alotau MP Charles Abel, Milne Bay Provincial Administrator Ashan Numa, Suau LLG President Ricky Morris, PNG Cocoa Board (PNGCB) CEO Boto Gaupu, Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK) Managing Directo Allan Aku, local leaders, representatives from commodity boards and public servants.
Political differences were cast aside as MP Abel, who is strongly involved with agriculture in his vast district, accompanied Simon to Laimodo and other areas of rural Alotau during a hectic three-day visit.
Abel, in fact, signed an agreement with Gaupu in 2019 to progress cocoa in Alotau – which is now bearing fruit.
Simon said the money would be paid as soon as possible to get the nursery, to be established by the PNGCB, up and running.
He said this was all part of the Marape Government’s strategy of “going rural”.
“The Government has decided to refocus, to go rural,” Simon said.
“We’re going rural and supporting farmers in the village. But how can you motivate the farmers?
“So, we decided to come up with price support because farmers are giving up on agriculture, they’re saying there is no future in agriculture, that it’s very difficult to do business in agriculture in Papua New Guinea.”

“ To get the interest going, money flowing, we must put money into where it matters most – and that is to the growers. They can then see the colour of money on their cocoa trees.”

Simon said driving to Suau from Alotau, he was struck by the massive tracts of fertile land which could be used to grow cocoa, coconut, vanilla and other cash crops.
Coffee also grows well in the mountains of Alotau.
“Does anyone of you sitting here not own land?” he asked the villagers.
“None of you has put your hands up.
“Every one of you should have a cocoa garden.
“I will make sure that we build a very big nursery here, of at least 50,000 to 100,000 seedlings.
“We will also build big nurseries for coffee and coconuts.
“Cocoa and coconuts go together.”
Simon urged the villagers to go seriously into farming.
“Just imagine if one person produced one bag (of cocoa) a month,” he said.
“You can never go wrong with cocoa; you can never go wrong with agriculture.
“If you plant cocoa, it will be here for the next 30 to 40 years.
“I’m here to encourage every one of you to go into agriculture.”
A relationship forged between remote Suau Local Level Government (LLG) in Milne Bay and the PNGCB is contributing in a big way towards economic development there, says PNGCB CEO Boto Gaupu.
He also announced that Laimodo would become a buying point to roll out the Marape Government’s Price Support Programme.
Gaupu said Suau LLG, through president and PNG Cocoa Board director Ricky Morris, had in 2019 signed a memorandum-of-agreement (MOA) to develop the cocoa industry there.
He said this had seen:

• 22 cocoa nurseries (one in each of the 22 wards); and
• Planting of more than 50,000 cocoa trees, 7000 of which are in Laimodo alone;

“The Cocoa Board is happy with the support of the Marape Government and Minister (Simon),” Gaupu said.
“I would like to announce here that Cocoa Board will initially put some money up for price support, under the price support that the Government has given, to start buying cocoa in this village.
“To get the interest going, money flowing, we must put money into where it matters most – and that is to the growers.
“They can then see the colour of money on their cocoa trees.”
Gaupu said Suau and other rural cocoa-growing areas of Milne Bay would also benefit from the Marape Government’s Freight Subsidy Programme.
“In fact, Cocoa Board, in 2016, partnered with Milne Bay Provincial Administration and moved 106 bags of cocoa, about three to four tonnes, to the market,” he said.
“That was valued at K60,000, of which K48,000 went direct to the farmers.
“Government has continued to give us Freight Subsidy money this year, therefore, we will continue to work with service providers like buyers and processors – where we will park the money.
“For instance, this morning, we met with the Milne Bay SME team – where we have committed some funds for them to initially start buying cocoa and creating a market here in Milne Bay.”
Suau LLG President Morris is a happy man to see such a major agricultural development on his turf.
“Your presence here today speaks volumes, and that is exactly what we need,” he told Minister Simon, MP Abel and the delegation.
“My LLG, and farmers, want a message of hope to give us the right direction, to give us the basic tools to take this industry and this sector forward.
“In this LLG we have coffee, we have cocoa which was recently introduced, coconuts, and of course oil palm that was introduced some 30 years ago.
“Cocoa and coconuts remain as our main cash crops, as it involves bulk of our population.”
The two oil palm estates in the area are owned by New Britain Palm Oil Ltd, with no local stakeholding – something that Morris wants to see changed.
He is excited about the prospects of “white copra” and commends the KIK for its good working relationship with the Suau people.
Morris says two years after the cocoa agreement signed by Abel and Gaupu, Suau had 24 satellite nurseries, 493 farmers and more than 52,000 trees planted.
“Our first planting took place in Sagau and these trees are now ripening,” he said.
Morris commended Alotau District Development Authority (DDA) for purchase of all nursery materials, and a dinghy to allow for transport of cocoa seedlings through the Suau coastline.
He also gave kudos to PNGCB for continued technical support to farmers, as well as the Provincial Division of Agriculture and Livestock, including the cocoa drier launched that day.
“This is the sort of partnership we should strengthen, and I want to thank the Provincial Administrator and Agriculture Advisor for giving us the recognition,” Morris said.
“It is our dream and our vision that one day, every household in this LLG will plant a minimum of 300 cocoa trees, and at the same time, integrate with coconut trees in the process.
“The introduction of a budwood garden, for clones, will save the turnaround time from Tavilo (East New Britain), which has been a challenge, as we have to be in the queue because the whole nation is dependent on Tavilo.
“Thank to CEO (Gaupu) and Minister (Simon) for giving an undertaking that Suau will have its own budwood garden.
“Another challenge that we face is to change the mindsets of our people to believe in, and adopt, cocoa farming as the future of this LLG and this province. We believe that cocoa, and coconuts, is the way forward for us.”

• Malum Nalu works with the Office of the Prime Minister