Minister for Civil Aviation and Esa’ala MP, Davies Steven, aims to commercialize betelnut so his constituents can tap into for financial benefit.
Minister Steven said they are planning to have a policy in place to export betelnut to other parts of the country.
“I’m happy we are wholesaling betelnut now. We will commercialise betelnut now and put a policy on it, so that we will export betelnut.”
Esa’ala in Milne Bay Province is one of the main hubs for betelnut cultivation with sellers travelling by boat and land to Alotau to sell their produce on a daily basis.
It is a viable commercial business for locals like Neil Henry (pictured), who has eight plantations of betelnut trees.
Henry fetches between K600 to K700 each time he travels to Alotau to sell.
Marred with six children, Henry tells Loop PNG that he is not a consistent seller and only trades when he has too.
His expenses only over travel and freight which adds to K75 in total.
“From here (Esa’ala) we carry it to Sewa Bay, Ponapona, from there we get dinghy’s and go across to East Cape. And from East Cape we get PMV to Alotau to sell and we come back.
“Depending on the selling, we can stay up to two days until we finish selling,” Henry said.
This shows an immense financial opportunity for locals such as Henry to tap into the commercialisation plan which will be accompanied by sea, land, and air services which Minister Steven says is in the pipeline.
