Officers working for Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP) are in the forefront of a shift in agriculture practice in the country, says project manager Potaisa Hombunaka.
“It was clear at the just concluded first national inaugural agriculture summit in Port Moresby that the PPAP modality is strong in governance, transparency and accountability, hence delivery of project to the farmers is feasible,” he said.
“Be happy because you’re in the forefront of a move in the country.”
Hombunaka was talking to 45 extension officers attending a weeklong training at Aiyura coffee research and growers services station in Eastern Highlands on Friday, 23 November, 2017.
The officers work for 35 productive partners for Coffee Industry Corporation’s industry rehabilitation program under PPAP coffee component. They were trained on how best to train farmers outside of the conventional extension service practice.
“Our current conventional extension service is just about training farmers on technical applications on production aspect of agriculture and we leave the farmers high and dry after the training,” said Hombunaka.
“The extension service we were using was relevant at that time, but there was really nothing between connecting us and growers.
“It’s time to phase out the conventional extension service system. Production has not gone up."
Quoting Albert Einstein, Hombunaka said “We cannot continue to do the same old things and expect different results”.
He said the PPAP modality with strong emphasis on ‘productive partnership’ has been tried elsewhere in the world and is the way forward for agriculture development in the country.
The engagement of close to 400 extension officers and field assistants is building back the extension service program. These officers are working in 10 provinces namely Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands, Morobe, Madang (Simbai and Kovon LLG), East New Britain and East Sepik.
The number of coffee extension officers has reduced significantly over the years and CIC, through the PPAP intervention, is working towards returning extension officers to re-connect farmers or producers who are important stakeholders in the coffee value chain.
One difference is the extension officers are from the project area hence after the project ends, all the knowledge and experiences are left in the area as opposed to recruiting extension officers from outside.
The coffee rehabilitation is a CIC project through Department of Agriculture & Livestock. It is financed by a loan facility from World Bank, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) with support funding from PNG Government.
(Extension officers with CIC and PPAP coffee training facilitators)