Yesterday morning at the farm

From PAUL OATES in Australia

Lessons for Papua New Guinea from Greece and Turkey

From PAUL OATES

DURING A RECENT farmers' tour to Greece and Turkey I observed a number of social impacts affecting both countries that Papua New Guinea could learn from.
The European Union (EU) recently offered large subsidies to Greek farmers to grow cotton and so compete with other non-EU cotton producers.
Many farmers turned to cotton in preference to their normal food crops.
But cotton needs a lot of water and Greece is mostly a very dry country.
 So when it started to import fresh food because it was not growing enough itself, the cotton subsidies were discontinued.
Lesson: Only crops suitable for the local conditions and local consumption should be encouraged. Perhaps the broad acre farming of oil palm in PNG should be reviewed to see who will benefit from this activity in the long run.
With 73 million people, Turkey is a very populous country with 50 per cent of its people involved in primary production.
Since every farmer traditionally wills his farm to his children, as the rural population has increased, each farm has become smaller.
Now many farms are unviable.
Increasingly, young people are moving to the cities to find employment away from the hard work on the land.
Yet they still own small unproductive acreages - good food producing land standing idle or growing weeds.
The Turkish government has just passed a law that only those people who farm can inherit land.
There will soon be a larger drift of young, unskilled people to the cities.
 These people will need retraining and new employment opportunities.
Yet the current government does little planning.
Lesson: Planning will help PNG when rural small holdings become unviable and there is a larger drift of young people to the cities. Training and new employment activities must be planned now to absorb this future labour force.
Both Greece and Turkey are much sought after tourist destinations.
Both are situated in a very volatile part of the world and every time there is strife, tourism slumps dramatically.
Neither country can control its neighbours and economic activities can be severely affected by what goes on next door.
Lesson: Don't become dependent on just one big export earner, especially if it may be directly influenced by another country. In other words, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket'. Now why did I immediately think of LNG?

On a wing and a prayer: a tribute to the late Captain Christopher Caines

Captain Christopher Kaines...two years on, his plane crash is shrouded in mystery

Two years on, we are still waiting for answers

  

By MALUM NALU

Chris Karma Kaines, from Gassam village on Siassi Island, Morobe province, died in a mysterious Cessna 206 plane crash in the mountains of Myola, along the Kokoda Trail, on Thursday, August 7, 2008, on his return from Goilala.

Today, his two wives, Betty Komes and Betty Kuyei;  four young children, daughters Emerald, Answer and Story (born from Kuyei) and son Chris Kaines Jr (born from Komes); family and many of us friends are still waiting for answers about his death.

There are several unanswered questions as to the flight plan given to the Civil Aviation Authority, the air worthiness of the Cessna, why the operator has disappeared since the death of Chris, is there any truth that Chris was carrying mercury and a large amount of money when he crashed, and many more, including questions on the involvement of certain groups and individuals.

Reporters probing the crash hit a brick wall at CAA when trying to get information on the crash.

Chris was a very experienced aviator, whose feats are the stuff of legend, including busting gun smuggling operations in Western province with police, once landing on the Hiritano Highway when his engine failed, who in 2006 year flew a private plane from the USA to PNG, and whose ambition in life was to buy his own plane and run a charter operation.

His best friends were from Butibam village in Lae, and he grew up with us in the 70’s and 80’s, played with us, and drank with us as we were all one family until his tragic passing.

His best mate was fellow pilot and school mate, Sao Maliaki, from Butibam and who flies for Airlines PNG.

We will always remember this athletic, handsome and easy-going young man who had a huge passion for life.

I remember flying with him once to remote Kabwum in the mountains of Morobe in 1994, and despite the weather and mountains, Chris’s good humour kept me going all the way.

That was the nature of the man.

Chris Kaines was born at Minj in the Western Highlands province but grew up at Mendi in Southern Highlands,

His father was a police sergent from Siassi while his mother was from Iokea village in the Gulf province,

Chris was a very experienced aviator.

After his training in a private flying school in Australia, self-sponsored, he flew crop dusters.

He flew for various charter operators in PNG.

Once, he ran into engine trouble and landed somewhere near Yule Island, on the Hiritano Highway, and after repairs, took off again.

When police needed an aircraft and a pilot to bust a gun-smuggling operation in the Western province side of the border, they were recommended Chris as the pilot and they still speak highly of that operation and the skills of the pilot.

He had a stint with Rimbunan Hijau during which time he flew regularly between Port Moresby and the Western province.

“Chris was a very adventurous person,” said his brother-in-law Newman Cuthbert, who delivered the eulogy at his funeral service at Marimari Lutheran Church  in Port Moresby, before the body was taken home to Siassi.

“He never joined Air Niugini or a commercial airline because he wanted to be in command of his own aircraft.

“He was not cut out to cart passengers but was attracted by the prospect of flying into remote locations and challenged the dangers of the weather and dangerous terrain of PNG head on.

“Chris always told my missus - his sister - when she told him time and time again of her concern of him operating small aircraft in remote locations: ‘Big sis I know what I am doing’.

“Danger and death was the most remote thing on all our minds for Chris.

“He had a lot of friends - those he grew up with and kept close to his roots.

“When logging was introduced to Siassi and as part of a family of principal land owners, Chris expressed concern about illegal logging and made it known at family discussions that the family members at home should never be manipulated by foreign logging companies but should benefit.

“‘We must receive our share of royalties but our old people must benefit before their time is up’ he used to tell missus.

“The father passed away two years ago and Chris flew his body home to Siassi.

“As a child he loved adventure movies like cowboys and Indians, and if there was something that looked complicated, he wanted to know what made it work.

“Recently, with another pilot friend, he took delivery of an aircraft from the USA and flew it home to PNG.

“His ambition was to buy his own plane and operate a charter company.

“He wanted the family and clan involved and we were all in the process of looking at that prospect.

“His best friends came from Butibum.

“He grew up with them, played with them drank with them and it was his other family.”

In fact, the last time I met him was in May 2008, shortly after the death of my wife, during which time he passed his condolences and told me that I must be strong for my children.

He reminisced with us from Butibam that night, over a couple of beers, about his many adventures all over the country as a pilot, including Bougainville during the crisis.

For one thing, all of us Chris’s mates from Butibam and Lae, now that he died doing what he loved best.

Rest in Peace, old buddy!

Papua New Guinea government and World Bank to sign agreements for rural projects

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

 

The Government of PNG and the World Bank will sign two loan agreements worth over K100 million for rural development projects.

The signing ceremony for the agreements for financing two projects that have significant merits in supporting smallholder agriculture and telecommunications services in the rural areas of PNG will take place on Monday (August 9).

Minister for Finance and Treasury, Peter O’Neill, representing PNG government, and Ferid Belhaj, Country Director, Timor Leste, PNG and Pacific Islands, will officiate at the signing ceremony at Holiday Inn.

The World Bank funds will finance the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP) and the Rural Communications Project (RCP) both of which aim to improve the livelihoods of remote rural communities. 

PPAP will assist farmers in adopting improved farming practices, facilitate relationships between smallholder farmers and agribusiness and provide critical infrastructure for market access.

The project will focus on areas dependent on cocoa and coffee productions including East New Britain, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Madang, East and West Sepik, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Jiwaka and Simbu provinces with possible expansion to other areas later.

RCP will provide access to telecommunications in Simbu and East Sepik, and facilitate public internet access in about 60 district centres.

It is expected that more women and youth will benefit from improved access to communications, including for income-generating opportunities.

 

More coffee being airfreighted in Papua New Guinea

Coffee farmers from Owena in the remote Obura-Wonenera district of Eastern Highlands province loading parchment coffee bags onto a Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane to take to Aiyura

Parchment coffee bags being unloaded from an MAF plane at Aiyura airstrip, owned and operated by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)

By AUGUSTINE DOMINIC of CIC

The volume of coffee being air freighted into major markets in Goroka and Kainantu from very remote areas in the Eastern Highlands and Simbu Provinces is expected to double this year with the Freight Surety Scheme (FSS) of the Coffee Industry Corporation.

Since the demise of the renowned ‘green revolution’ in 2002, which pledged much hope for improved air freighting of coffee from remote areas into major markets in towns, the re-conceived FSS concept is picking up momentum and has gained much popularity among remote farmers.

CIC’s FSS officer Paul Gilma said that the scheme was developed in 2003 after the fall of the ‘green revolution’ and  till 2009, the scheme had airfreighted over 760, 000 kg (about 15, 000 bags) of parchment coffee from various remote areas of the two provinces.

The total volume airlifted in 2009 from remote areas like Pinero, Negabo, Nomane, Karamui, and Appa in Chimbu and Maimafu, Andakombe, Simbari, Tuvau, Marawaka, and Owena in Eastern Highlands provinces was 52, 663kg and he predicted that with much awareness of the scheme, the volume would reach 90, 000 kg this year.

Gilma said there was more volume of coffee being airfreighted out from the remote areas into towns but the volumes revealed were only the figures of CIC recorded through the FSS programme.

“The overall objectives of the FSS is to provide effective and efficient coffee freight program to promote, support and develop a sustainable coffee industry in PNG which will maximise financial returns to all coffee producers and contribute to the government’s economic and social policy goals focusing on rural development and poverty alleviation”, he said.

He said more government funding would be needed to boost the provision of this much-needed service to other coffee-growing provinces in PNG because currently, the limited funding available was only being recycled in EHP and Simbu provinces.

Gilma said farmers in Morobe and Madang province were advised to approach the CIC office in their provinces to access the coffee freighting service because some money had already been deposited with North Coast Aviation and Islands Airways operating respectively in each province to serve them.

He explained that the freight scheme paid the freight cost upfront for the farmers and once the farmers sold their coffee they only repaid the freight cost and get remainder.

“Many farmers have expressed great satisfaction for the freight service provided by CIC than similar service provided by private organisations and individuals, as they gain more income,” Gilma said.

InterOil signs JVOA with Mitsui

INTEROIL Corporation announced on Wednesday, August 4, that a Joint Venture Operating Agreement ("JVOA") for the Company's proposed Condensate Stripping Plant ("CSP") has been finalised with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui").  

The JVOA sets out the rights and obligations of the participants of the joint venture to develop a CSP at InterOil's Elk and Antelope field site in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.  

The JVOA replaces the preliminary joint venture works agreement announced in April 2010.

InterOil and Mitsui also executed an Option Deed.  After reaching final investment decision on the CSP, Mitsui has options to acquire interests of up to a 5% in the Elk and Antelope fields and in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) Project on equal terms, yet to be determined, to those agreed with a future industry partner, as follows:

1.              After mechanical completion of the CSP, Mitsui has a right to convert its contributed investment in the CSP into a 2.5% interest in the Elk and Antelope fields and the proposed LNG Plant.

2.              Mitsui also has conditional rights under a separate call option to purchase an additional 2.5% interest in the Elk and Antelope fields and the proposed LNG Plant.

Certain regulatory approvals will be required from the Papua New Guinea State for the options to be effective.

Joint Venture Operating Agreement

Under the JVOA, InterOil and Mitsui will each have a 50% ownership stake, before the State of Papua New Guinea's statutory right to acquire up to 22.5% in the CSP.  An InterOil subsidiary is the operator under the joint venture. InterOil expects that the CSP will be designed to process approximately 400 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/day) of wellhead gas with an anticipated yield of approximately 9,000 barrels (bbls) of condensate per day.  Dry gas may be reinjected into the reservoir for storage depending on the timing of the development of the proposed LNG Plant.  The condensate is expected to be barged to the InterOil refinery inPort Moresby for processing and sale.

The wells and condensate transport from the CSP (located approximately 30 km southwest of the fields adjacent to the Purari River) will be the responsibility of the owners of the Elk and Antelope fields, including InterOil and its upstream partners.  The capital cost for the CSP is currently estimated at $550 million, with approximately $32 million of this being expended for front end engineering design.  Mitsui will be responsible for arranging or providing financing for the capital costs of the plant.

Final Investment Decision by the JVOA partners is expected by the end of March 2011, following completion of engineering and design work, financing agreements and further regulatory approvals.  The CSP facilities are projected to be operational no later than mid-2013.  In the event that a positive Final Investment Decision is not reached or made, InterOil will be required to refund Mitsui's capital expenditure incurred within a specified period and the option and conversion deeds will be terminated.

Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer of InterOil, commented: "Since April, front end engineering and design studies have been ongoing and we have now concluded certain definitive agreements with Mitsui for the CSP and Mitsui's right to acquire up to 5% in the Elk and Antelope fields and the  proposed LNG project.  We welcome Mitsui as our partner, and are very pleased with the progress made in the development of our CSP, which we expect will enable us to monetise our Elk and Antelope liquid resources.  This is a key step in the monetisation of our natural gas resources through LNG."

Farewell Sir Brian

By ALISON ANIS in The National

 

TEARS flowed freely during the funeral service of the late Sir Brian Bell at the St Martin’s Anglican Church in Port Moresby yesterday.

More than 1,000 people, including family members, friends, senior management and staff of the Brian Bell Group of Companies, dignitaries, heads of businesses, departmental heads and members of the diplomatic corps, who have been touched in one way or the other by the generosity of Sir Brian, flooded the church to bid him farewell.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane, opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta, Mining Minister John Pundari and Abau MP Sir Puka Temu were also there to pay their respects.

Former prime ministers Paias Wingti and Sir Rabbie Namaliu also attended the funeral service.

Branch managers of the Brian Bell group from Kokopo, Mt Hagen, Lae and Goroka also attended the funeral service on behalf of their staff.

Most noticeable was the build-up of everyday people, men and women from the informal sector, outside the church grounds yesterday.

Some of these people wept openly when the casket containing the remains of Sir Brian was taken out for its journey to the 9-Mile cemetery for burial.

 One could only wonder how the late veteran businessman might have touched the lives of these individuals.

The church was filled to capacity and extra tents were erected outside the church grounds to accommodate some of the staff members and beneficiaries of his many good deeds.

The funeral programme was broadcast live on Kundu 2 Television.

Well-wishers arrived at the church well before 9am to say goodbye.

A sudden hush overcame the group of well-wishers as the casket carrying Sir Brian’s body arrived at the church at 11am at the sound of police sirens.

Oro dancers from Northern welcomed the casket as they shouted “Oro, Oro, Oro”, to the late Sir Brian.

This was followed by the reflective sound of the bagpipes by the Correctional Services band that accompanied the casket into the church.

Most fitting was the farewell song by Marina Prior, daughter of Sir Brian’s friend, Grand Prior in dedication to him.

The ceremony lasted about two hours before the body was transferred for burial.

At around 3pm, Sir Brian, the man who touched countless lives through his generosity, humility, honesty, commitment and hard work was finally laid to rest next to his wife Jean Ann Bell at the 9-Mile cemetery.