A trial cocoa project in remote Karamui District in the Chimbu Province has proved successful and the Province is looking at going into commercial production.
Provided there is government intervention in funding the provincial government’s plan to bring cocoa to the next level, Chimbu Province has the potential to become a major player in the nation’s cocoa industry.
The Provincial Works Unit has spent sleepless nights cutting through mountainous jungles in its attempt to link up this fertile valley by road to the outside world.
There is enough land available in Karamui for large scale projects and the trial cocoa project of 27 hectares has resulted with high yields and top quality cocoa beans. Karamui has a climate similar to the coastal provinces.
Seven years after trials in the remote location by the Provincial Government, The Cocoa Board, Cocoa and Coconut Industry and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, the 27 hectare trial project produced 1560kg of dried beans in 2014, and 1226 last year- which is about K18 000 worth on the current market price. Two more harvests were made during the 2015 season.
Because of its high quality and yield, the Provincial Government and Agriculture officers are moving to bring it the next level by introducing it to locals.
Senior Agriculture Officer Crops, Morris Kaupa says while the cocoa industry in the coast was hit by the Cocoa pod bearer, Karamui was free of the pest and was showing promising signs.
The Cocoa Industry’s scientific report said Karamui could go into commercialisation while the difficulties of air and land freight was subsidized by the Cocoa Board in October in a Memorandum of Agreement with the Provincial Agriculture and Livestock department.
Kaupa said the project took longer to come this far because of the remoteness of the location and the crop being new to the locality.
“We successfully completed the trial and will now look at commercialising the crop. The landmass is big and cocoa is definitely Chimbu’s future crop,” Kaupa said.
Kaupa said: “The project will need government intervention in funding to be realised. The freight subsidy also needs to be maintained into the future. It would help a lot of rural farmers in this remote location.