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.
