Villagers focus on coffee

By GABRIEL LAHOC
AFTER suffering from the effects of prolonged tribal fighting in the Unggai-Bena district of Eastern Highlands, villagers from the lower Bena aim to enjoy the benefits of coffee farming to improve their livelihoods.
Peace has been restored in the Bena valley with the district moving forward under the leadership of local MP Benny Allen.
Years of tribal violence had hindered government services such as health and education from reaching all parts of the district.
One of the assets left untouched by the conflicts was the coffee plantation on their land which was abandoned by its owner and claimed by the locals in small portions.
Taking the advice from one of their tribesmen and Coffee Industry Corporative (CIC) officer, Lokia Hepi, 21 coffee farmers from Fuki, Kumeso, Bako, Gaden, Bego Samatoka, Sekatoga and Wesan villages came together and formed the Lipatiuto corporative society.
In the local Bena dialect, lipatiuto means healing and resurrecting what has been destroyed.
With the assistance from CIC, the plantation is currently being rehabilitated while the corporative society is being organised formally under the programmes of CIC.
They will now benefit from a planned nursery and group market for their coffee beans and more advice and trainings by CIC.
Hepi and a team of senior officers led by CIC farmer training and extension manager Matei Labun, recently visited the farmers and their families, who for the past five months, had gathered kunai grass, wooden posts and other materials to build their coffee information centre which is part of the model advocated by CIC.
Lipatiuto corporative society chairman Petsy Iyape and his deputy Hepi Tenafa, pointed out to the visitors that their people numbering over 1,000 have missed out on development benefits and the young men have now committed themselves to the corporative society.
“We have missed out but we still believe in development happening in our area so we will struggle to get this corporative society and benefit from it,” Iyape said.
He said the group was in the process of recruiting more financial members in a stricter process where applicant farmers go through a background check.
CIC provincial farmer training and extension coordinator Samson Jack, told the farmers that while they might lost all other potential economic activities, they still have the coffee plants which he described as their “generators”.
Distancing themselves from the hand-out mentality, the farmers said they would try their best to establish themselves before seeking assistance from the district or provincial government.