Imbonggu district of Southern Highlands Province (SHP) has the potential for commercial vegetable and grain crop farming, an agriculturalist with over 20 years field experience has said.
The agriculture advisor for Imbonggu district, Paulus Mosby said the climate and fertile soil in most parts of the district best suited vegetable, rice and wheat farming.
Mosby has been on this job since 2002 and has personally trialled and proven with small village-based farmers throughout SHP that vegetable and grain crop farming had huge potential in the province.
However, he noted that “the biggest impediment” was the lack of National and Southern Highlands Provincial Government (SHPG) funding support for all agriculture extension work since 2002.
“There has been zero funding each year for extension since 2002 to this day. Public servants are paid, but there has been no logistical support to carry out extension work and on-the-spot field visits.
“The greatest impediment has been no constant agriculture extension work simply because the Department of Agriculture and livestock (DAL) has failed to allocated money annually for this important work.
“All successive PNG National and SHPG MPs have preached about import replacement and increased local food production, but they have miserably failed to put their money where their mouths are.
“Its high time politicians and top government bureaucrats sew their lips, roll up their sleeves and walk the talk.
“People, especially rural village farmers and the ordinary grassroots majority are fed up of lip services and empty promises that never eventuate.
“All agriculture projects in SHP have not been supported by DAL in Port Moresby and the SHPG.
“All my local farmers involved in cattle, chicken, duck, fruit crops, inland fishery, rice, piggery and vegetable projects in SHP have done it on their own without the National and SHPG support,” Mosby stressed.
He said fortunately for Imbonggu district, the local MP Francis Awesa has been assisting local farmers since he was first elected to Parliament in 2007.
“Without Francis Awesa’s continuous financial support, most of the agriculture projects in this district would not have progressed to what they are today,” Mosby acknowledged.
He urged the National and SHPG to compliment Awesa’s assistance by getting their acts together and start allocating sufficient funds in the 2017 Budget for agriculture extension work as well as logistical support.
Picture: Mosbi (right) with multi-crop farmer Clement Napas in his strawberry farm at Tepe in Lower Mendi LLG area.