Umi rice marks a milestone for Trukai

Trukai Industries Ltd has reached another milestone in developing a domestic rice industry for Papua New Guinea.
The company is now working with local farmers at Umi in the Markham Valley of Morobe to harvest rice grown on 275 hectares.
This is expected to produce well in excess of 1000 tonnes of paddy rice.
Further expansion is planned for the following crop out to a planting area of 500ha.
Trukai general manager for agriculture Jarrod Pirie said this was a huge milestone for the company.
“It sets us apart as the only company that can now grow and produce local PNG rice of the same high quality and nutritional value,” he said.
“We are pleased to say that the rice will be 100 per cent locally-made when we mill and package it using our state-of-the-art paddy mill in Lae. The rice is expected to be out in the market later this year.”
Pirie said this was not the first time the company was harvesting from the Umi fields.
“We harvested 140 metric tonnes of locally-grown rice in Umi in May 2017,” he said.
Pirie also acknowledged the support and partnership of the Chingwam Rice Growers’ Cooperative of Rangiampum village in Umi where the rice was grown. He said Trukai’s arrangement with the landowners was a unique win-win concept for both parties.