Suau LLG in Milne Bay to venture into cocoa farming

THE Suau local level government in Alotau, Milne Bay, will venture into cocoa farming as its main economic activity, president Ricky Morris says.
Morris said a team from the PNG cocoa board had visited Suau in September and agreed to counter-fund a cocoa farming project with the Milne Bay government.
“We want our people to venture into sustainable economic activities. Next month, the Milne Bay government will sign a memorandum of understanding with the PNG Cocoa Board,” Morris said.
He did not disclose the cost of the project but said “it was a kina-for-kina four-year project” funded by Milne Bay government and PNG Cocoa Board.
“We are looking at planting around 400,000 cocoa seedlings in the next four years to 2020,” he said.
“We will be building a nursery at the Sagako ward and this will supply cocoa seedlings to communities in Suau LLG.
“We want to empower our people in sustainable economic activities to improve their quality of life.”
Meanwhile, Morris said in terms of capacity building to receive direct funding from the Government, Suau LLG was prepared.
“We have the structure in place when the Government first called for direct funding into LLGs,” he said.
“We have 28 wards and we have established ward development committees for each ward and have opened trust account for each ward with initial deposit of K1000 from the LLGSIPs.”