Photo credit: Department of Agriculture and Livestock
The PNG Agriculture Commercialisation and Diversification Project will get US$40 million (K120 million) in financing from the World Bank.
The money will help 12 provinces that have been identified establish competitive and varied agricultural value chains for specific commodities like coffee, cocoa, coconut, spices, and small livestock.
Autonomous Region of Bougainville, New Ireland, East New Britain, West New Britain, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Enga, and Southern Highlands are among the 12 provinces.
According to Jane Sprouster, the World Bank Support Country Manager for PNG, the bank is pleased to be extending their cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and Livestock through project implementation.
By supporting sector intuitions, enhancing industry, and supporting the improvement of key rural roads, she said, the activities under this new project seek to address three of the major challenges facing the performance of the agriculture sector. This will allow products to reach the market in good quality and a good time to achieve their prices.
“The heart of this project is to help smallholders increase productivity and quality of products and to get a higher income for their efforts,” Ms Sprouster said.
The three primary commodity-focused areas in PNG are dominated by smallholder farmers, according to Acting Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Dr. Nelson Simbiken. However, this has been impacted by numerous market and productivity constraints.
The limitations include high transaction costs brought on by diseconomies of scale, a lack of information and technology brought on by subpar extension services, poor rural infrastructure, a lack of access to rural finance, and unstable landownership and tenure.
With the assistance of the World Bank, the department will now be able to address some of those issues related to ageing, according to Dr. Simbiken.
Reference: Wohi, Lorraine. Post-Courier (29 June 2022). “K120 Million For Agirculture Projects”.
