Villagers eye partnership with exporters

FIVE villages along the border of Morobe and Madang have formed a coffee association to partner with a local coffee exporter to sell their coffee to international markets.
Rai Coast Mountain Zone Organic Coffee Farmers Association (Rofa) have partnered with Unenchoit Coffee cooperative to export coffee beans to New Zealand.
Rofa coffee agent Archie Luther said the partnership was to support local farmers export their coffee from the village to international markets to earn a good price.
He said many middle men (buyers) were paying the locals less for their beans and making good profit selling to international markets.
The farmers had to walk long distance (8km) to access main roads before transporting their beans to Lae.
Luther said the five villages were Bawa, Maraboi and Kapara in Morobe’s Markham while Duru and Wamunde were from the Rai Coast in Madang.
He said the main issue for growers in the area was transportation, communication and road access.
He said some farmers had lost interest in the industry and were tapping into other garden food crops such as banana, taro and vegetables.
He said thousands of coffee cherries from the 84,000 coffee trees and others belonging to the farmers were left to rot in the gardens and blocks over the years because there was no road access to get their beans to market.