Agriculture a noble profession

Captions: 1. Graduands marching proudly to the graduation area to receive their degrees, diplomas and certificates at the 13^th UNRE graduation last Friday.2.  Dux of the 2009 graduation degree class at UNRE, Michelle Jambui, receives her degree from Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu. Apart from being the top overall student in her class, which earned her the coveted National Agriculture Research Institute Kana Aburu Medal, she was the top graduating student in industry project, animal science, crop science and rural engineering. As dux of the graduating class, Ms Jambui presented the respondent speech on behalf of her fellow graduands.

 

 

Graduating students of the University of Natural Resources and Environment in Vudal, East New Britain province, have been told to be proud of agriculture as a career.

 Student representative Michelle Jambui, also the dux of the degree class, said agriculture was often disparaged as a “low standard profession”.

 “I stand here today on behalf of all the graduating students as a proud product of this university,” she said.

 “In my study days, I have often heard people say that agriculture is a profession for those that cannot become lawyers, doctors and accountants.

 “Many perceive agriculture, and for that matter natural resource profession, as a low-standard profession for those with low academic aptitude.

 “I stand here today with my head held high for all our graduates and say this is not true.

 “Natural resources, its wise harvesting and sustainability provide the much-needed wealth of this nation.”

 Ms Jambui gave a vote of thanks to the New Zealand government for providing scholarships to all female agriculture graduates.

 She appealed to her fellow graduates to perform to the best of their abilities.

 “As we venture into our various professional fields, we must always be honest to ourselves and to our employers and perform our duties diligently with our utmost best,” Ms Jambui said.

 “As a start, we have to change our prespective and mindset from student hood to an independent and self-reliant person, willing to contribute to the nation, regardless of what our individual expectations are as a university student.

 “Regardless of how difficult our studies were, we overcame such obstacles with determination and perseverance.

 “Success in life means mastership and mastership means utilising every human force and power of the being, as well as the outer force, to reach your desired goal.”

Local birds

From PAUL OATES

'Cast your bread upon the waters and it will come back to you,' goes an old saying.

We cast our stale bread on the back lawn and all we got was some local birds.

Pictures of Prime Minister arriving at Toku Airport, Kokopo, on the new Falcon jet

Above are pictures of Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare arriving at Tokua Airport, Kokopo, on the new Falcon jet for the 13th graduation ceremony of the University of Natural Resources and Environment last Friday.

Pictures of Rapopo Beach Resort

Pictures of the beachfront at Rapopo Beach Resort in Kokopo, East New Britain province, last Friday.

Pictures of the Rabaul volcanoes

Pictures of the Rabaul volcanoes as seen from Rapopo Beach Resort in Kokopo last Friday.

Prime Minister Somare to visit New Zealand

 New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will welcome the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Sir Michael Somare, when he visits New Zealand from April 19 to 23.

"Sir Michael's visit will underline New Zealand's close relationship with Papua New Guinea," says Mr Key.

 "We have a large aid and development relationship, enjoy defence co-operation and share commercial and business linkages. New Zealand has also helped with security and infrastructure in Bougainville following the peace process in the late 1990s.

 "I look forward to discussing with Sir Michael his views on Papua New Guinea's economic development, particularly with the new liquified natural gas project.

 "As the Pacific's longest-serving leader Sir Michael's knowledge and experience of the region is invaluable."

 While in New Zealand Sir Michael will also meet with Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, business leaders, academics and members of the Papua New Guinea community in New Zealand.

 

 

Graduands urged to be agents of change

Graduating students of the University of Natural Resources and Environment at Vudal in East New Britain province have been urged to be agents of change.

 Vision 2050 chairman Prof David Kavanamur (pictured) urged the graduands to become key agents of change towards attaining the vision and mission statement contained in Papua New Guinea Vision 2050.

 “Our vision: ‘We will be a smart, wise, fair, healthy and happy society by 2050’,” Prof Kavanamur said.

 “Our mission statement: ‘We will be ranked in the top 50 countries in the United Nations human development index by 2050, creating opportunities for personal and national advancement through economic growth, smart innovative ideas, quality service and ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of benefits in a safe and secure environment for all citizens’.

 “Your country, the independent state of Papua New Guinea is now calling upon your knowledge, skill sets, values and nationalism that UNRE has inculcated into your being for attaining the country’s overarching strategic intent.

 “It is encouraging indeed to note that PNG UNRE has already aligned itself to the implementation of Vision 2050.”

 Prof Kavanamur said in strategic planning, once the strategy was set, the next challenge was strategy execution.

 He said the UNRE had captured all seven pillars of Vision 2050 which were human capital development and people empowerment;  wealth creation and natural resources;  service delivery;  environmental sustainability and climate change;  spiritual, cultural and community development; strategic planning; and bio-security and food security.

 “What’s more, the university’s name, following your timely and smart rebranding strategy, reflects the PNG Vision 2050,” Prof Kavanamur said.

 “The name, the Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment, will be recorded in the annals of history and talked about for a long time to come.”

 Prof Kavanamur said the Vision 2050 team recognised that natural resources held so much untapped potential.

 “We recognised much earlier on that enclave industries like mining, oil and gas would never provide all the employment or business opportunities that would satisfy our people’s aspirations or even at the least be effective mediums for equitable distribution of national goods and services,” he said.

 “Contrary to popularly held views, the key lies in unlocking the potential in our renewable natural resources sector through positive empowerment and engagement of our people.

 “We all know too well that is conservatively estimated that around 90% of Papua New Guineans depend on income from coffee, cocoa, palm oil, copra and food crops to make a living for themselves.

 “A very large percentage of this takes place in the informal sector.

 “Compare this to our mining, oil and gas sector which employs less than 50,000 workers across the entire country and your have a perspective on this paradox.”

 Prof Kavanamur told the graduands that they were skilled in the area of natural resources and environment management and had an important role to play in society.

 “In addition, the Somare-Temu Government has deliberately asked us to come up with staretegies to ensure the rapid expansion of four key economic sectors: agriculture, eco-forestry, coast fisheries and eco-tourism,” he said.

 “All these sectors fall within your area of training.

 “In order to fully realise the value of our natural resources, we need to move downstream and position ourselves further along the value chain, thereby creating more local jobs and higher value from our existing renewable resources.

 “This is the real challenge in Vision 2050, to identify and empower more-creative people within our society who will move into these production sectors and progress the transformation.”