The East New Britain Provincial Government has been called on to invest more in the tailoring business.
Speaking during the closing of a two-week garment and textile training at Laup ward, in the Sinivit LLG of Pomio District, local businesswoman Bungtabu Brown applauded the organisers of the training, but said there has to be a way forward to assist these trained tailors.
“We cannot continue to conduct trainings like this and let the participants return to their communities without additional assistance for their products. When I was the president of the National Council of Women, I was part of a team that visited Fiji and saw how the government supports local tailors there,” she said.
She said all the villagers did was sew the garments and the government organises quality control officers who travel to the communities to check the garments, then arrange for the best products to be sold at overseas markets.
“So, I’m challenging you. Instead of sewing for the domestic market only, can we also look at selling to overseas markets?” she queried.
Mrs. Brown further suggested manufacturing of materials, as seen in Indonesia where they use a certain type of banana fibre to string into fabric, saying PNG is ideal because this crop grows in all parts of the country.
“We can make fabric or materials here and we can sew our own clothes and export it to other countries. Why not we use our research institutions in the province and country to assist us in this area?”
Mrs. Brown further challenged the relevant government agencies in the province to take this up as such businesses provide employment and revenue streams for families, the province, and the country as a whole.
She also suggested for the government agencies to ensure there is a database system for those involved in such life skills training programs in the province.
Responding to Mrs. Brown, Acting Advisor for Community Development Division under the ENB Provincial Administration, Peter Tutuai, said a database is vital for development of this tailoring industry and the SME sector.
“Maybe if we grow the industry to meet world standards, then we can look at downstream processing to manufacture fabric and go into exporting those finished products,” he said.
He iterated that the government is looking at working with development partners to move its development initiatives.
The Acting Community Development Advisor assured that his Division will continue to support such training to help empower people in the communities.