ECONOMIC AGRIBUSINESS UPDATE
If Papua New Guinea is to achieve its rich potential in agriculture, the country’s smallholder farmers need to brought on board. David James reports.
PICTURE: BUSINESS ADVANTAGE INTERNATIONAL
From smallholding to agribusiness
PNG coffee producers show off their wares
According to PNG’s Investment Promotion Authority, agriculture received the most foreign investment interest in 2020, with enquiries centred on commodity exports such as coffee, cocoa, vanilla, copra and even livestock. While the Bank of Papua New Guinea reported ‘lower shipments reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global supply chains,’ the prospects for PNG’s agriculture sector in 2021 are improving. The ANZ Bank is predicting that agricultural exports will increase by 9.3 per cent this year, ‘underpinned by better global commodity prices and currency depreciation, both of which will facilitate stronger production and exports.’
Developing the sector PNG’s natural advantages in agriculture – rich soils, good rainfall and warm climate – make it a potential food basket for Asia, but more needs to be done to develop capacity and encourage commercial practices in the sector. Grow PNG is one of several programs aimed at boosting
PNG’s agriculture production. Formed at the end of 2019, and based in Lae, it is affiliated with the regional Grow Asia program, a multilateral program created to encourage smallholder production. Lae was chosen due to its proximity to the highly fertile Markham Valley. Grow PNG aims to be an honest broker, an organisation farmers and landowners can approach to help maximise the potential of their land and that investors can approach to identify business models that work. ‘One of our challenges is to encourage farmers to think of farming as a business,’ says Grow PNG’s former Executive Director, Ivan Pomaleu, who is now Secretary to the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council. ‘You have to convince gardeners to become farmers.’ Another initiative is the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) plan to develop 300,000 to 400,000 hectares of land in the Markham and Ramu valleys. Christian Reichel, the IFC’s Operations Officer in Port
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