Council wards at Usino Local Level Government in Usino-Bundi district, Madang Province, recently received brand new rice milling machines to enhance rice production for their farming population.
The new rice mills were purchased at Farmset Limited in Madang for more than K60,000.
President of Usino LLG, Peiwa Aimai, commissioned the new rice milling machines at Usino LLG chamber in the presence of thirty-four ward council members on Friday 23rd April.
Aimai said the purchase of the thirty-four rice milling machines were purchased through the royalty grant received from the Ramu NiCo Project.
He said the royalty grant was from the 2019 allocation which was unanimously agreed upon by the thirty-four ward councilors of Usino LLG.
He thanked Ramu nickel project, the developer MCC, and the landowner associations, for including also all LLGs in Madang to benefit from the royalty grants from the project.
During the launching, Aimai urged Usino LLG ward councilors to utilise the new milling machines to benefit the majority of rural farmers.
The Usino LLG ward members gathered for the occasion after passing their 2021 LLG budget at the chamber earlier during the day.
Aimai told the members that they should be thankful to the nickel/cobalt mine developer in the district for its generosity in accommodating the LLG in its royalty distribution in Madang Province.
According to the Ramu NiCo (MCC) Community Affairs Department, Usino LLG is one of the five impacted LLGs in the province that receives royalty payment directly into its accounts. The other four LLGs are Bundi, Gama, Astrolabe Bay and Saidor.