Since 2013, the Sepik Region has experienced a significant decline in its cocoa production due to Cocoa Pod Borer pest infestation.
This has forced farmers to abandon infested cocoa blocks, resulting in the closure of most of the cocoa dry bean exporters in the region.
To revive the industry and improve livelihoods, the EU-Streit Programme in PNG says since June this year, it has trained 1,935 lead farmers as Trainers of Trainers and distributed 116,648 Cocoa Pod Borer tolerant cocoa seedlings to farmers, among other activities, to make lives better for cocoa farmers in the East Sepik and Sandaun Provinces.
The programme says it has stablished three formal partnerships with Cocoa Board, the Department of Agriculture & Livestock (DAL) and local NGOs, signed an MoU with a local SME to improve the small holders participations in cocoa supply chain, identified 304 cocoa farmers group and mapped 1042 cocoa blocks.
The programme has also established 96 bud wood gardens and provided learning opportunities for 130 cocoa farmers on sustainable agriculture/climate-smart management practices and developed the capacity of 10 cocoa farmers groups and agri-preneurs on entrepreneurship development.
Aside from receiving technical knowledge, 58 cocoa farmers were taught entrepreneurship and financial literacy and awareness on gender based violence has been carried out with 1,104 farmer.
Farmers now also have access to four established farmer resource centers.
The EU-STREIT Programme is the largest grant-funded programme of the European Union in the country and the Pacific region and is being implemented as a United Nations Joint Programme in partnership with the FAO, ILO, ITU, UNCDF and UNDP.
The programme says it plans on monitoring and evaluating the performance of the rehabilitated cocoa blocks and improving and rehabilitating fermentaries enterprises, strengthening the capacity for adaptive research and cocoa demonstration facilities of regional technical institutions and training agri-preneurs, SMEs, farmers and students on sustainable cocoa production, processing and marketing.