Women getting ill from carrying bags of coffee

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
WOMEN who work in coffee plantations are getting sick because they are carrying heavy loads for long distances, says a woman grower.
These women are helping their husbands in the plantation, said mother-of-three Erike Murak, from the Wain-Erap local level government, in Nawaeb, Morobe.
“Some women suffer birth complications because of the long distances they had to walk with bags of coffee on their shoulders,” she said.
“Walking from Rabisap village to the Sorop river bridge, where PMVs wait, takes four hours. Most women experience back pains which happen on a daily basis.
“For smallholder farmers or families who own coffee gardens, no one else will help them clean the trees and prune them.
“It’s just yourself, your children and your husband.”
Murak is married to a third-generation family of coffee growers. She said selling coffee beans was their only source of income.
“My husband has 3000 coffee trees,” she said. “It takes me a week to clean and make sure that the trees are not covered in bush.
“The coffee trees are grown on his family’s customary land. Other families do this as well.
“The harvesting, machining, drying and packing into coffee bags are all done by the family. The father, mother and children have their own part to play.”
Rabisap ward councilor Worinu Samanam said they also faced communication and transport problems.
“The priority should be roads and communication. We need vehicles to travel to where people are to help us access buyers. We need to communicate with people in town or the nearest coffee buying area to get information.”
He said they also needed an airstrip.
They are members of the Fafo Coffee Cooperative, a sub-group of the Irumu Coffee Group, which is a co-partner in a Productive Partnership in Agriculture Projects (PPAP) coffee component.