Saturday, May 05, 2012

Morobe beats Chimbu in coffee production

By AUGUSTINE DOMINIC of CIC


Morobe has beaten Chimbu province to become the third highest ranking coffee producing province in the country, according to 2011 coffee production figures compiled by Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd.
Chief executive officer of CIC NaviAnis revealed that Morobe’s coffee production made a historical record of 91, 051 while Chimbu’s production fell short slightlyat 71, 174 bags with close to 20, 000 bags difference.

Farmers from the successful Neknasi Coffee Cooperative Group listening to coffee quality  from a representative  of  Fairtrade (Australia and New Zealand) Group.
He added, however, that production figures for Chimbu may not reflect its true status, as coffee from there was brought down to sell in Goroka and could be recorded under production figures for the Eastern Highlands Province.
Eastern Highlands province led production with 695, 312 bags while Western Highlands followed with 543, 893 bags.
The figures are usually collected and compiled by CIC through copies of sales dockets provided by coffee companies operating in each province.
An elated CIC Morobe provincial farmer training and extension coordinator, Simon Gesip, expressed great delight of the news and praised the effort of networking partners in the province including Tree Kangaroo Conservation Programme, Bris Kanda, Mainland Holdings, Morobe provincial government’s extension arm , all district agriculture officers and coffee farmers in the provinces for their dedication and hard work.
He said the achievement was through committed partnerships between all stakeholders.
“Another factor to the high production is the determination of the humble Morobe farmers to target selling their coffee in the high value international coffee markets,” Gesip said.
Two advanced groups are the Neknasi Coffee Growers Cooperative Group from Nawaeb district and the YUS Conservation Coffee from remote Kabwum district.

Two farmers from the successful Neknasi Coffee Cooperative Group standing near their coffee pulping machine.
They have connected with Fairtrade (Australia and New Zealand) and America coffee company, Caffe’ Vita respectively.
Other coffee farmer group in the nine districts of Morobe province, including Finschhafen, Wau/Bulolo, Menyamya and Tewae/Siassi are preparing to follow suit.
According to a resent socio-economic survey done by the National Research Institute (NRI), vegetables were the leading agricultural produce of the province, followed by betel nut and coffee.

No comments:

Post a Comment