There is potential for PNG to develop its stockfeed industry

DEPUTY Prime Minister Charles Abel and Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Benny Allen have shared their vision (in Friday’s news report) on self-reliance and import replacement for stockfeed and other basic food items as the way forward to achieving the PNG Development Strategic Plan
2010-2030 and the broader Vision 2050.
As stipulated in the National Agriculture Development Plan volume 2, the Government’s target is the production of four million tonnes of meat products annually to meet the demands of our growing population.
This production target is not achievable if the stockfeed is not produced locally.
Why? As a National Agriculture Research Institute study outlined, 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the cost of poultry and pig production goes to feed alone.
To produce a mature broiler requires 14kg of feed while 270kg is required to raise a pig for pork.
With that kind of massive feed requirement, producing four million tonnes of meat is therefore a daunting challenge. It means that an excessive volume of feed ingredients will be imported to the number of animals required to produce the amount of meat targeted.
As estimated, the Government will spend K126 million annually to produce four million tonnes of broiler meat. Yet, we have local ingredients that we can use but are ignoring.
A research by a West New Britain agriculturalist shows that K130 million worth of agro-industrial by-products in the country are underutilised.
When are we going to add value to this available resource to develop livestock which will create wealth and employment for our local people?
Minister Richard Maru raised his concern in The National on Dec 28, 2015, that the “cost of poultry products in Papua New Guinea is the highest in the world as feed ingredients are imported”.
The strategic move by the deputy prime minister and agriculture minister supports the concerns raised by Maru and Nari about mitigating the high cost of stockfeed by producing low-cost stockfeed from locally available agro-industrial by-products like oil palm meal, copra meal, fish meal, rice bran and local starch feed.
A pre-feasibility study conducted by the Department of Commerce, Trade and Industry in 2016 showed that West New Britain has 43,500 tonnes of palm kernel meal available.
With the continuous development of oil palm in the province the amount of the by-product available is increasing too.
This province has gone into partnership with Trukai Rice to commercialise rice, and that should remind us that rice bran is another by-product that will be readily available in the near future.
Cassava, sorghum, soybean and corn can be easily grown in West New Britain because of the province’s high rainfall and fertile volcanic soil.
The Department of Agriculture and Livestock should identify provinces that have enough underutilised agro-industrial by-products and fund stockfeed mill projects in those areas so the country can meet production targets.
Importing feed is expensive and it takes employment opportunities away from our people.
We should embrace science, research and technology recommended by Nari and enterprising local innovators to improve our economy.
This will improve livestock development, create wealth and employment for the local people as envisioned in the PNG Development Strategic Plan 2010-2030 and the broader Vision 2050.
We acknowledge visionary leaders like Abel, Maru and Benny Allen for their shared vision and strategic approach towards self-reliance and import-substitution to grow the national economy.

Fidellis Moroyagl
Kimbe
WNB