The Farmers and Settlers Association has warned Government that specific interventions need to be implemented in the agriculture sector.
The interventions must be made in order for PNG to meet the Government’s focus on commercializing agriculture under the Medium Term Development Plan 4 and the National Agriculture Strategic Plan 2034 to contribute K30 billion to GDP and create 2 million jobs by 2030.
The Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association Inc (HFSA) organized two seminars recently at the National Research Institute in the Nation’s Capital and at the Sports Institute in Goroka regarding the outcomes of the World Bank-funded Productive Partnership Arrangement Project in Agriculture (PPAP).
HFSA president, Wilson Thompson shared that the PPAP focused on coffee and cocoa from 2010 to 2020, due to declining production and productivity.
The presentations revealed that although PPAP did what it intended to do, there were also other interventions such as the K100 million Agriculture Commercialization Fund, DSIP, PSIP, NADP and various PIP grants and functional grants to national, provincial and district administrations towards agriculture.
“Despite the cumulative inputs, the NRI presentation showed that from 2001 to 2022, aggregate and real production is on the decline for agriculture. The total value of exports increased but that is caused by price and any responses seem to be by price and investment may need to be reviewed,” said Thompson.
He added the government should consider utilizing the approach of PPAP and PACD due to the good governance, reporting system, structures in place, and implementation models.
However, any projections for increases in cocoa, coconut, rubber, coffee or livestock or oil palm need to be reevaluated and specific interventions done to deliver clear results.
Thompson said the question posed at the seminars was the absence of data from the commodity boards, DAL, Provincial DPI or DDA or LLG or industry that contributed to the production and export statistics.
“Agriculture production and productivity is declining across all industries. The Government of PNG may need to address and arrest the declining production levels by getting commercial farming, blocks and plantations on track. So many interventions have not significantly improved the situation in PNG,” Thompson added.