After three shipments of cattle from Lae to Launakalana in Central Province, the Launakalana Estate is progressing at a good pace.
So far there are more than 500 cattle, that have been shipped to Launakalana Estate since 2022.
Livestock Development Corporation (LDC) Managing Director, Terry Koim, shared that LDC has made a lot of progress since this news team visited last year.
“Cattle were brought here for the implantation of the Government’s MTDP 3 Plan, which is the National Cattle Breeding Program. What we are going to do now at Launakalana is increase the numbers to more than 1,000, so that we will be distributed to existing livestock farmers in Central province and then distribute to other parts in the southern region,” said Koim.
The officer in charge of Launakalana Estate, Jackson Tasi says there is a need to increase the paddocks to cater for the growing number of cattle.
“We have a lot of local pastures but are depleting at a faster rate. We are struggling against time and the number of cattle to feed. We are on our toes, trying to create another lot of paddocks which is going into the bush. At the moment we have only five paddocks which is not enough to cater for more than 500,” Tasi added.
He further stated that according to the local pastures, 1.5 to 2 hectares is equivalent to one animal.
“So, there are a lot of things happening in Rigo. To make things work in our country, the government wants to partner with Papua New Guineans, who are willing to do the hard yards, instead of complaining about the Governments free handouts. If you are a livestock farmer in Rigo and you want to work with the Government, you are most welcome to come and talk to our manager on the ground and they can come help you and extend services to you.
“Before the next quarter, we aim to bring in the next shipment from Lae. We want to do it sometime soon but because of the bad weather, we cannot do shipment,” Koim emphasized.