Papua New Guinea agriculture must be a mixed bag

Agriculture in Papua New Guinea has a bright future, however, the agricultural mix will be different.
PNG agriculture also needs to be supported by high class research and development and it is important to build on current and past successes and to learn from the past.
An expert on PNG agriculture, Dr Mike Bourke (pictured)  of the Australian National University, made these assessments at the National Development Forum at Parliament today while speaking on ‘Agriculture developments in PNG and future prospects’.
He said major tree crops such as coffee, cocoa and copra were facing assorted problems and PNG should diversify alternatives major crops.
For instance, in East New Britain, where the cocoa pod borer has affected production, Dr Bourke said ENB could diversify into alternatives such as balsa, galip nut, nutmeg, teak, vanilla, pepper, kava, cardamom and turmeric.
Best prospects for domestic markets are root crops, banana, fruit, edible nuts and vegetables; snack foods such as peanuts, cassava chips, banana chips, cooked galip and cooked karuka nut; betelnut and pepper; fish and livestock.
Best prospects for export markets are oil palm, hardwoods (teak, kwila, New Guinea walnut, Calophyllum, rosewood, ton); fast-growing timbers such as balsa; flowers, especially indigenous orchids; spices, as indigenous oils; and edible nuts such as galup, karuka, pao and talis.
Dr Bourke listed poor to average export prospects as coffee (high global supply), cocoa (cocoa pod borer), vanilla (quality), tea (only one company in PNG), rubber (dependent on price of oil) and copra (low prices and has to be exported as copra oil).
Very poor prospects included grains for domestic market including rice, wheat, maize and sorghum; pulses such as soyabean and green gram; robusta coffee, pyrethrum, fresh food exports and canned food for domestic market.
Dr Bourke later said: “The prospects for coffee are only moderately good.
“The reason has to do with the high supply on the world market, especially from Vietnam and Brazil.
“The concern here is that there are very few alternatives to coffee in the Highlands.
“Coffee needs to be supported but we need to be realistic about the prices.
“The cocoa industry has grown quite steadily, particularly on East New Britain and Bouganville,
“These two provinces produce 75% of PNG’s of PNG’s export and 8 or 9% from East Sepik and Madang.
“Production was around 50, 000 tonnes last year.
“The big issue with cocoa is cocoa pod borer.
“The insect is present in East New Britain, East Sepik and Madang, not on Bouganville yet as far as we know.
“This is having a social impact, for example, people can’t afford to pay school fees for their children.
“When it comes to Bouganville, it’s going to have a big effect as well.
“As for copra, prices are very poor.
“The world market for copra itself is very low.
“The market is now for copra oil.
“For example, in Europe, they do not import copra now, they import copra oil.
“The market for copra is okay, but only just okay.
“You can only make money from copra if you are near a buying point, for example, Buka, Taboi, Namatanai, Duke of York and Madang.
“But for remote locations, for example Tabar Island, if there’s no buying point you can’t make money.”

Economies sitting on untapped potential, says UN Under-Secretary-General

Singapore, 5 August 2009 – “For the poor and particularly for women of our region, there are some tough times ahead,” Dr. Noleen Heyzer, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific (ESCAP) cautioned a largely female audience at the APEC Women Leaders Network today.

While women have emerged as what she calls the flexible labour force par excellence, “their entry into the workplace has also coincided with trends towards outsourcing and subcontracting; relegating women’s jobs to the informal sector without any job security or benefits.  The inherent risks of this positioning are now becoming apparent as the economic crisis unfolds.”

According to estimates from the International Labour Organisation, an additional 9 million women in the region will become unemployed in 2009, bringing the total number of unemployed women to an approximate 38 million this year.  

And while there are signs of early economic recovery, she says, experience shows that real wages take an average of three years to recover and employment growth does not return to pre-crisis levels for several years after that.   In developing economies – and in spite of the robust gains of recent years – important gains made over the last ten years could effectively be undone.

Still, the news is not all bad, insists Heyzer, who believes the crisis can be used as an opportunity, deeming the APEC region “the epicentre of economic growth.” 

According to ESCAP research, she says, “our [APEC] region loses between USD 42 and 47 billion dollars a year by restricting women’s access to employment” and “up to USD 17 billion dollars a year are lost in the region due to gender gaps in education.” 

For most economies in the Asia-Pacific, women are an untapped resource and, conversely, represent potential for economic recovery and growth. 

This, she says, can be achieved through gender sensitive fiscal stimulus packages; promotion of intra-regional trade; improved access of girls and women to education and training; increased corporate social responsibility and commitment to equitable pay.

Read Dr. Heyzer’s entire speech at:

http://www.apec.org/apec/news___media/speeches/050809_wln_heyzer.html

For more information, contact:

Carolyn Williams at cdw@apec.org or at (65) 9617 7316

Anita Douglas at ad@apec.org or at (65) 9172 6427

 

Waigani way gone mad

By James Wanjik

 

LAST week PNG leaders made lot of noise. They showed their leadership to the people.

The Opposition with support of protestant Government MPs moved a motion that never was to remove the Government. Their reasons were quite powerful but not very.

It was the Speaker who was the tactician. The Leader of Government Business moved a motion to adjourn Parliament to 10 November 2009 without written and presented reasons.

The Speaker without querying reasons called for vote on voices and after giving to the Government was forced to call a division.

Now we hear Parliament would not have met the required 63 days sitting in 2008 – 2009.

No leader objected to the motion to adjourn Parliament by raising Point of Order to alert the Speaker. Raising point of order would have seen no trust motion against the Speaker. Leaders were all caught powerless.

Truth is very few leaders are genuine. Many are called but few are chosen.

PNG people regret seeing their independence movement leader being a mystical god. It will wreak havoc in government rank and file.

Putting mystical god above one and true God PNG waited 42 years to create revolt in Parliament. It made Waigani way go mad.

Please leaders wake up and move for better PNG. PNG where people will move people for people.

 

Aid failing in its objectives

East Timor and P a pua New Guinea getting worse despie $500m in Australian aid

Mark Dodd | August 03, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

AUSTRALIA'S aid tsar has called for new approach to the Pacific, revealing conditions in East Timor and Papua New Guinea are worsening despite $500 million in assistance. 

 Pacific states, including East Timor, are “seriously off track” to achieve ambitious Millenium Development Goals by 2015, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance Bob McMullan said today.

The warning follows the release of a second annual report, Tracking Development and Governance in the Pacific, compiled by the Government's official aid arm, AusAID.

The report recommends a new approach to Pacific aid to ensure development assistance is more efficiently targeted.

“In 2000, world leaders agreed on 2015 as the timeframe for achieving the MDGs. The world is past the half-way mark,” the report says.

“However, achieving all MDGs across the Pacific region by the deadline is unlikely.”

It found at least 2.7 million people in the region are living in poverty, about 400,000 children are not enrolled in primary school and 64 out of every 1000 children die before the age of five years.

Adding to the tale of woe, at least 80,000 adults have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and the infection rate is growing by more than 40 per cent a year.

Two of the worst affected countries are East Timor and Papua New Guinea which, despite receiving $117 million and $414 million in aid respectively, are experiencing worsening poverty.

On a visit to Australia last month East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta complained that a decade of UN presence in his country had delivered little in terms of improved standards of living.

“The Pacific region is seriously off track to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, “ Mr McMullan said.

“The people of the Pacific, expect us all, donors and Pacific Island governments alike, to do much better.”

Launching the report at the Lowy Institute, he said, governments needed better plans, budget frameworks and financial systems that prioritise resources to MDGs.

The Pacific's problems have been exacerbated by the global recession, which has resulted in lower economic growth across the region combined with population increases, the report says.

Relative to the size of their economies and populations, Pacific countries receive some of the largest official development aid (ODA) amounts in the world. 

A prayer against the "River God"

Our Father, who art in Heaven, please help Papua New Guinea, we do not want a "River God" - "Sukindimi" in the local dialect - to take your place. Amen

Australia's help key to Pacific's survival

As leaders gather in Cairns for today’s Pacific Leaders Forum, WWF is urging Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his regional counterparts to focus on building partnerships to avoid dangerous climate change and pledge funding for adaptation to the changes already under way.

With the livelihoods in the Pacific at risk from climate change, WWF is urging the Australian Government to work with its nearest neighbours and help develop and finance a survival masterplan for the worst affected island states.

WWF’s work in the Coral Triangle has shown that countries such as Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands will need to adapt to dramatic changes to the marine environment, as well as to the effects on the livelihoods of nearly 100 million people.

The Coral Triangle, just one per cent of the planet’s surface, includes 30 per cent of the world’s coral reefs, 76 per cent of its reef building coral species and more than 35 per cent of its coral reef fish species as well as vital spawning grounds for other economically important fish such as tuna.

“Millions of people risk losing their homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect this region’s rich marine and coastal resources” said Mr Richard Leck, Climate Strategy Leader, WWF Coral Triangle.

“Climate change is happening now and the effects are already being felt across the region,” said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.

“Unless we want to push our neighbours closer and closer to the brink, Australia must do all it can to reduce the effects of climate change and build partnerships to help people adapt,” said Mr Bourne.

“It is not enough to simply talk about cooperation. Our Pacific neighbours need an ally who will work hard to create a strong deal that will see developed countries make an aggregate reduction in emissions of at least 40 per cent by 2020.”

Also critical to a strong deal will be a commitment by developed countries to provide annual financial commitments of around US$160 billion to help developing countries with mitigation and adaptation. The Pacific Leaders Forum provides the Australian Government with a perfect opportunity to reveal what it is willing to contribute.

Many countries in the region are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Penina Moce, from Kabara Island, Fiji, is a WWF Climate Witness. Moce is already seeing the effects of climate change first hand.

“We have begun to notice that the fish and shellfish we used to be able to gather so easily are getting harder to find. We used to catch enough fish in the shallows. But now we have to go further out.

There also used to be colourful, live coral from the edge of the beach out to the reef. But now everything has gone white” said Ms Moce.

 “Only strong and effective global and regional action can help protect us from the effects of climate change,” said Mr Bourne.

"The Australian Government must provide a platform for our Pacific neighbours to have their voices and concerns heard at Copenhagen. It is wrong to think that any nation can solve this problem on their own. The future of hundreds of millions of people hangs in the balance and we need governments to work together to tackle this immense problem.”

For more testimonies and information on WWF’s Climate Witness program, please visit: http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stories/

-----------------

Note:

• The Coral Triangle is the most diverse marine region on the planet, matched in its importance to life on Earth only by the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin. Defined by marine areas containing more than 500 species of reef-building coral, it covers around 6 million square kilometres of ocean across six countries in the Indo-Pacific – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.

• The Coral Triangle also directly sustains the lives of more than 120 million people and contains key spawning and nursery grounds for tuna, while healthy reef and coastal systems underpin a growing tourism sector. WWF is working with other NGOs, multilateral agencies and governments around the world to support conservation efforts in the Coral Triangle for the benefit of all.

• The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food is a new six-nation initiative to secure the future of marine resources in the region. See www.cti-secretariat.net for more information.

• For information on Coral Triangle go to: www.panda.org/coraltriangle

For further information:

Richard Leck, Climate Strategy Leader, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Tel. +61 7 3211 2521 Email: rleck@wwf.org.au

Lida Pet Soede, Leader, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Tel. +62 812 381 8742 Email: lpet@wallacea.wwf.or.id

Paolo P. Mangahas, Communications Manager, Tel: +60 3 7803 3772 Email: pmangahas@ywwf.org.my

 

 

The little house in the valley

Real estate is set to boom in the great Wahgi Valley of the new Jiwaka province between now and 2012 when it gains full provincial status.
While agriculture will, naturally, be the economic backbone, real estate is another, given the large tracts of fertile land all over the valley.
One man having his eyes set on real estate in Jiwaka is Peter Irai, owner of a neat little house in the valley, at Kurumul Tea, nestled between north and south Wahgi under perennial springtime climate.
It’s less than 100m from the main Highlands Highland, next to Marban Coffe Plantation, Kudjip market and very close to Jiwaka’s urban centres of Minj and Banz.
All kinds of comfort in the valley.
The medium-covenant house has four bedrooms, a concrete floor, kitchen, shower and flush toilet.
Water flows into the house through an electric pump.
 Bedding, tables, chairs and kitchen facilities are provided.
Then there’s a television set to provide icing to the cake.
There is also an external haus kuk (kitchen) with electricity provided.
“The property is situated in a peaceful community where the landlord and community at large care for the welfare, safety and enjoyable living of our tenants, which has always been the case here,” Mr Irai says.
Previous tenants have been the Evangelical Brotherhood Church (EBC) and Digne Trading.
The Coffee Industry Corporation is now leasing the house for its extension officers who are out on patrol in the vast Wahgi Valley.