Water for WIB delegates

By DOREEN POLOH WAIM

Millennium Water Ltd, a water bottler, has donated an unlimited supply of its Owen Stanley range water (pictured above) as part of its sponsorship towards to the PNG Women in Business expo opening tomorrow, The National reports.

The donated water will  be provided for the guests and other dignitaries during the three-day event.

Company managing director Achilles Peni lauded the holding of the expo as it would provide women an opportunity to showcase their businesses.

He said it was time men should realise that equal participation by women is also one of the key factors to economic development.

The donation was received by PNG Women in Business president Janet Sape, who thanked the company for its support.

'You can't fail with coffee'

By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

Imagine if there was no coffee in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

People would not have a stable activity to keep them on their land, and lawlessness would be rife and out of control.

The coffee crop has given people a reason to celebrate, a reason to boast, a reason for peace and a reason to life.

The Coffee Curriculum has again added more meaning to the crop.

Equipping students with coffee farming skills and knowledge is equivalent to equipping students with skills for life.

“No student can fail to become a farmer,” CIC board director James Korarome said while talking on the importance of the curriculum and its benefit to students, schools and the economy.

He said this during the launching of the Coffee Curriculum School Nursery Programme Aiyura, Eastern Highland province.

The programme will be established in all pilot schools in the Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Morobe and East Sepik provinces.

Mr Korarome added the curriculum was an opportunity presented to students who may not make it through the education system.

Representative of the National Education Department, Mordecai Baine, said PNG was moving into an “exciting phase” with the curriculum.

Mr Baine, a strong advocate of technical education, said the innovative Coffee Curriculum was promising the national vision of “a happy, healthy, wealthy society” to students.

UNRE helps East Sepik cocoa farmers

UNRE technical officer Anton Varvaliu pointing out the right pruning tactic on a cocoa tree to cocoa farmers at Sengri village

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK

Cocoa farmers in a remote part of Yangoru in the East Sepik province stand to benefit from a training package proposal offered by the University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE).

The package proposal that now needs funding from government and international donor agencies was initiated by Madefari Nimiefari integrated land group consultant Menza Wagun.

The proposal that involves the Integrated Agriculture Training Programme (IATP) offered by UNRE at its Vudal campus in East New Britain province will enable over 500 farmers in Sengri, Simbomie, Howi, Javari, Kwahuie, Kusik Baimuru, Merohombi and Marenge villages located in the Sepik plains to receive quality and much-needed training.

This training includes sustainable livelihoods and decision making, land use and soil fertility management, basic record and book keeping, cocoa processing, husbandry, small enterprise, and planning and decision making.

Ms Wagun, who is a clan member and has been a professional human resource trainer with various government and private sector for over 25 years, initiated the proposal to support the National Government’s 2010 - 2050 strategy plan.

“The proposal has already been approved and accepted by the East Sepik Cocoa Board,” he said.

“The focus of my initiative is on poverty alleviation.

“That part of East Sepik has a high rate of malnutrition-related diseases, as economic development is nil despite vast land and natural resources.”

Ms Wagun, whose last employment was with Oil Search, said her proposal would be first implemented as a model project in Sengri village before extending it to the nearby villages.

UNRE’s head trainer for IATP Owen Ngala, when speaking to the farmers at Sengri village last Sunday, said that they were more than happy to extend the programme to their area if only Ms Wagun’s proposal received funding from various donor agencies.

Students to get the best from coffee curriculum

 Caption: Teachers listening attentively to CIC officer Anton Ningiramu’s explanation of establishing school coffee nurseries. Picture by YVONNE NGUTLICK

 By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 Teachers have fully embraced the Coffee Curriculum, which gives their pupils something to fall back on when they fail their core subjects.

The Coffee Curriculum for PNG schools directs attention to the human being because it is the farmer that physically manipulates the tree to produce coffee cherries.

Schools provide the opportunity for students to receive an education that would not necessarily give them a white-collar employment. 

 

Targeting its most important audience – the youth, the Coffee Curriculum hopes to see students grasping the “man on the land” concept.

 

Thus, the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and the National Department of Education (NDoE), through the Coffee Curriculum, have given students an opportunity to be self-sustainable should they fail to make it through the education system.

 

The curriculum is directly linked to two of the pillar education philosophies of the PNG Government – “Relevance in Education” and “Making a Living” syllabus.

 

Students currently doing Grades seven, nine and 11 in the pilot schools would be the first pupils in PNG to test this curriculum.

 

These students would graduate next year, 2011, after sitting for the national exams with certificates that verify that they have studied coffee farming and possess the “know-how” of its production.

 

Speaking on behalf of teachers present during the launching of the School Nursery Programme in Aiyura, Eastern Highlands province, Mr Biwa of Grace Memorial Secondary School in the Morobe province, thanked CIC, NDoE and funding partner Agricultural Innovative Grant Scheme (AIGS) for the curriculum – which he said had made education more meaningful.

 

He encouraged his colleagues to utilise and integrate their available resources as much as possible to make the Coffee Curriculum a reality.

 

Mr Biwa said very good support was coming from the Wau district administration and stressed on the need of working with local level governments to advance coffee development.

 

CIC and NDoE would give teachers in primary schools piloting the curriculum special attention and guidance because the teachers do not have formal training in teaching agriculture.

 

Pilot schools for the Coffee Curriculum are Faniufa Primary, Watabum Primary, Kerebabi Primary, Tairora High, Kainantu High, Kabiufa Secondary, Basenengka Vocational, and Gotomi Vocational in the Eastern Highlands.

 

In Western Highlands: Banz Elcom Primary, St Mary’s Nondugl Primary, Keltiga Primary, Anglimp High,  Pabrabuk Secondary and Fatima Secondary.

 

Pilot schools in Simbu are Yauwe Moses Secondary, Kerowagi Secondary, Papnigl Primary and Ku Primary.

 

In Morobe, the schools are Markham Valley Secondary, Grace Memorial Secondary, Bugandi Secondary, Finschhafen Vocational and Zenang Primary.

 Pilot schools in East Sepik are Yangoru Secondary, Brugham High, Bainyik Primary, Negrie Primary, Maprik High and Kubalia High.

Coffee nursery programme a 'field laboratory' for pupils

Caption: The school nursery programme provides a ‘field laboratory’ for students.-Picture by YVONNE NGUTLICK

 By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 The School Nursery Programme, a component of the much-marveled Coffee Curriculum, provides a ‘field laboratory’ for students to learn the important and initial stages of coffee production.

The School Nursery Programme, which was launched last week, is an add-on to the Coffee Curriculum so that it is not merely taught in the classroom but practically applied, hence, coffee planted in the field and not on classroom chalkboards.

The Coffee Curriculum is a joint development of the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and the National Department of Education (NDoE) and was officially launched in 2008.

 Its purpose is to educate and train students with the appropriate coffee knowledge and skills to be productive and purposeful citizens in the community when they leave school.

 

In 2009, the first in-service was held to empower teachers and discuss the implementation of this innovation.

 

Financial support in developing, printing, launching and trialing the Coffee Curriculum came from the Agricultural Innovations Grants Scheme (AIGS).

 

CIC industry operations manager Ellison Pidik pointed out during the launching that the benefits of the innovation were shared equally between partners - CIC and the government through the NDoE.

 

“The hands-on knowledge that will be imparted to the many children is a lifetime experience and this kind of partnership would establish a socio-culture for our young future generation,” he said.

 

Under the District by District Village Coffee Rehabilitation Programme funded by the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), the CIC budgeted K300, 000 for the School Nursery Programme.

 

Each of the pilot schools in the Eastern and Western Highlands, Simbu, Morobe and East Sepik provinces will establish a nursery.

 

Nursery materials will be supplied to all the schools.

 

One nursery costs K13, 000 and can hold 10,500 seedlings.

 

These seedlings, when planted in an area of four hectares, can produce parchment valued at K30, 000 to K35, 000 at current prices.

 

With the programme, schools become partly self-reliant financially. 

 

In line with the industry goals of increased production of high quality coffee, the Coffee Curriculum and the Nursery Programme fits CIC’s vision for “prosperous farming communities” and a “vibrant competitive and sustainable coffee industry”. 

 

Mr Pidik said CIC was utilising schools as vehicles for extension of coffee knowledge and teachers as the change or extension agent.

 

“CIC does not have resources to put enough extension officers in all districts, thus, utilising the education system, we can realise our corporate visions and mission,”he said.

 

The second launching of the School Coffee Nursery Programme will be at the end of February in East Sepik province, a significant Robusta coffee-growing area.       

 

Papua New Guinea needs a good government

By REGINALD RENAGI

 

The cries of Papua New Guineans go unheard.

Past trends show that PNG’s current political regime will not drastically change its poor governance approach.

 It is now up to the next new leadership and government.

 PNG desperately needs a new progressive government after the 2012 elections that will totally transform PNG.

Since Independence, government policies have not regularly been reviewed, updated and broadened with a view to counteract any misconceptions about them.

 The new PNG government must have a sound development strategy with a policy framework encompassing basic principles, goals, policies and highlights two overriding goals of greater participation by the people, and sustainable development.

PNG needs a revolution in political affairs.

It must change its political landscape starting this year with the full participation of all citizens. 

Every citizen and government must work together for a better country.

A fresh new leader with a new political announcement to inspire PNG is what is needed now to have a new “contract with all citizens” for a better government.

 It is about a dynamic plan that will have the government in a stimulating discussion and debate with its people which must go beyond any individual party national convention.

Today PNG faces very serious national challenges and its overall performance in the past 20 years has been quiet dismal. 

The country suffers from a disunited society, high unemployment, serious crime, social and political instability with serious health and environmental challenges such as the AIDS pandemic, a decrepit health care system, climate change and rapid urbanisation amongst others.

For many years now Papua New Guineans are simply fed up with their government’s performance.

 Its central agencies work mostly in an un-synergistic manner at all levels of a three-tier government system.

 The general output of governments has simply failed to meet the expectations of its people, hence; a new political order is long overdue.

So what can a new PNG government do after the 2012 election? 

The people of PNG want to see a future progressive and transformational government.

 A government with a sound plan with clear broad-based strategies specifically targeting critical areas to totally transform PNG into a prosperous, progressive and united country.

PNG needs a responsive and responsible government with the right plan and a new leadership approach to bring about a major sea-change.

 Its basic policy strategies must be based on the last 37 years of watching how PNG has been governed, its resources miss-managed, its politics corrupted by greed and special interests, and listening to what the ordinary people are saying.    

The people of PNG desperately wants a caring government with sound policy strategies to target key areas that will sustainably grow the economy, create jobs and give full government support to small businesses. 

The people need a government with a plan and strategy to change PNG. 

The next new government must be progressive and transformational.

  It must from the outset pledge to commit its full resources towards key areas of national concerns to achieve a reasonable level of long term sustainable development. 

A really good government must systematically review its strategic policies and not be content with just resting on its past laurels. 

Its strategic policy framework must fully cover a diversified range of national government issues. 

They should be cross-cutting development issues in many portfolio sectors encompassing political, economical, social, military, cultural, physiological and spiritual areas. 

Do we have any political parties out there listening to the cries of Papua New Guineans?  Do we have any MP and other aspiring politicians prepared to take up this noble future challenge, and field a good prime minister material in 2012 for PNG?

To do this, all political parties must now start working on their best new candidates in preparation for the 2012 national elections.

 The people must start thinking ahead now on whom they will vote out from the present bunch we have in parliament.

Works in the red

K30m owed to contractors

The Works Department is in the red and cannot carry out urgent repair work on the Highlands Highway and other roads in the country, The National reports.

The department owes K30 million to contractors, the same amount that is allocated for maintenance of roads in the 2010 Budget.

And Works, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Don Polye is pointing the finger at the National Planning Department, which he said should be abolished and made only an agency of the Prime Minister’s Department.

Mr Polye and Works Secretary Joel Luma called a press conference to let out their frustrations.

They stopped short of calling names, choosing instead to blame a system that they say was not working.

“I am sick and tired of funds being siphoned off and misused. I am not going to sit down and take my department for a ride.”

Mr Polye said money allocated to Works should be released to their trust account immediately and not kept at a department where “there is no transparency”.

“National Planning is not and should not be a department. It should become a monitoring agency within the Prime Minister’s Department. Right now there is less transparency there,” the Minister said.

Mr Polye said the K30 million in the 2010 Budget for routine maintenance was not enough with that money if released would be used to pay an outstanding bill of K30 million owed to contractors who had worked on a credit basis.

He said the Department could not do routine maintenance work on bridges swept away by floods in West New Britain and Oro and national roads in the country.

The Minister said he would be pushing for a Supplementary Budget to be introduced to cater for road maintenance which he said needed at least K300 million.

He said the K20 million requested since November last year for urgent repair work on the sections of the Highlands Highway including the slip at Daulo Pass was still sitting at the Department of National Planning and Monitoring.

Mr Polye said Secretary Luma had been running in and out of National Planning and he himself called to follow-up yesterday but was told by an officer who had forgotten about the request.

Minister Polye gave harsh words without naming any politician or public servant for the stuck-up but blamed the system.

“I am still waiting for the K30 million from National Planning. It’s not the Minister or the Prime Minister but the system.

“It is the responsibility of the National Planning to ensure that funds are released timely for maintenance.”

He said there were two road blocks in Daulo, three bridges washed away in West New Britain, slip on the Sepik Highway and potholes along Hiritano and Magi Highways that needed attention.

He warned the Highlands Highway could be cut off for days or weeks if the Department of Planning did not release finding.m