Police move into Unitech

Eastern Highlands students studying at the University of Technology waiting in front of the Yanepa building for Governor Malcolm Kela-Smith to present their petition yesterday.

Sepiks turn on students from other provinces

THE University of Technology, despite further intimidation and threats by provincial groups against each other, is assuring safety and appealing to students to return to classes next Monday, The National reports.

The administration said last night that it had also beefed up security with more police presence at the Taraka campus.

Police have been given orders to arrest and charge anyone breaking Unitech rules and regulations and disrupting peace.

On Monday night, Sepik students searched all lodges and dormitories and attacked students from other provinces.

University workers said the Sepiks had retaliated following an attack by Western Highlands students late in the afternoon.

Police were forced to fire warning shots into the air to disperse the unruly group, an academic said.

The Sepik students continued the threats and intimidation yesterday morning and attacked a Central student in front of the union canteen at midday.

Students said the Sepiks were attacking anybody “who is not a Sepik”.

They said the Sepiks were angered when they learnt of a discussion on Monday night by all other provincial groups. They viewed the meeting as collusion to team up against them.

“They thought that everyone is against them,” the students said.

In Goroka, Unitech students from Eastern Highlands yesterday petitioned Governor Malcolm Kela-Smith to assist them to return to complete their studies.

The students fled the Taraka campus last weekend along with other highlands students in fear of attack from Sepik students following a clash that resulted in a death.

President of the Unitech Eastern Highlands Students Association Solomon David petitioned Kela-Smith in front of the Yanepa provincial government building yesterday.

The students called for maximum security to be provided for them to return and complete the remaining five weeks of their academic year.

They also called for financial assistance for transport and political intervention to address the current situation on campus.

The students claimed that the university’s senior management had failed to deal with the problem, resulting in a death, injuries and chaos.

In Mt Hagen, Western Highlands students said they were not involved in the clash.

They said the fight was between the Chimbu and Sepik students, and no Western Highlander had part took in it.

The National, yesterday, reported that the Sepik students were angry that a Western Highlands student, known to them, was instrumental in the fight at the student mess.

The fight reportedly began after a Sepik student was assaulted at the university gates at Taraka.

Meanwhile, Enga students who boarded a PMV bus from Lae to Wabag were allegedly attacked along the Highlands Highway last weekend.

First-year student Terry Kandiu said they were attacked and robbed at Kindeng, but they did not know who the attackers were and why they were attacked.

Police in Mt Hagen confirmed that they had received reports of the incident but had not made any arrests.

Storm wreaks havoc

By PISAI GUMAR

 

NEARLY 500 people have been left homeless in the Huon Gulf district of Morobe after a freak thunderstorm on Monday night flattened their homes, The National reports.

Villagers of Maiama on the coast of the Morobe patrol post lost 32 homes and the remainder of their food gardens in the strong winds and heavy rains.

Women, children and the elderly were pleading for help from relatives in Lae for food supplies and medication.

Fears of flooding and landslides had also been raised for villages along the coast to the border of Northern and in the hinterlands.

It is the second disaster to have affected the village in a week after last Wednesday’s 2m-high flooding of the Masira River that swept away 25 homes and lowland gardens, Morobe patrol post sub-district manager Essing Ulam said last night.

He said last week’s devastation left more than 100 people homeless and Monday night’s had worsened the situation with more than 300 people without either food or shelter.

He said a southeasterly wind lashed the village at 1am on Monday.

Cash crops of vanilla vines and cocoa trees and food gardens were all destroyed.

Ulam said the phenomenon was described by villagers as “some strange wind”.

Ulam and his Department of Agriculture and Livestock officer have compiled a latest report to the Morobe provincial disaster and emergency office for assistence.

They had been visited at the weekend by Huon Gulf district administrator Tony Ase.

Ase said last night that he had requested relief supplies from the disaster office.

In the meantime, the people are scouring their gardens for food.

 

 

Pyrethrum a re-emerging cash crop for high altitudes for Papua New Guinea

By ENOPA LINDSAY of NARI

A farmer planting pyrethrum in Maltaka, Enga

Pyrethrum offers an alternative income earning opportunity for farmers in the high altitude highlands of Papua New Guinea.

It is re-emerging as a cash crop due to innovations in research and development through collaborative efforts among partners.

With the establishment of markets, improved planting materials, production suitability, technical support and new information, farmers should fully capture this income-earning potential.

Pyrethrum is a daisy-like plant of the Chrysanthemum group of the Compositae family. An active constituent, extracted from dried flower heads, known as ‘pyrethrin’, has economical importance.

Pyrethrum flower

Most of this active ingredient is used as additives in pharmaceuticals (body and household sprays), insecticides, mosquito coils and many more.

Pyrethrum grows well in some patches of areas within altitudes ranging from 1800 – 3000 meters above sea level.

Such altitudes have the suitable temperatures and humidity with optimal rainfall, and other environmental conditions conducive for pyrethrum production.

In the 1950s, the national Department of Agriculture and Livestock introduced and evaluated high-yielding seeds from Congo and Kenya to determine its adaptability under PNG conditions.

Research work commenced in Aiyura (Eastern Highlands) in the early 1950s but due to poor performance, further work was moved to Tambul (Western Highlands) in 1966 and continued further up the highlands to Sirunki in the Enga province.

From results obtained during these trials, 30 pyrethrum clones with high pyrethrin content, superior agronomic yield parameters with some level of tolerance to floral fungal diseases were selected for further assessment.

The 30 promising clones were further multiplied at the Sirunki Sub-Research DPI Station and distributed to farmers around Sirunki and other pyrethrum-growing areas in the Enga province.

From the 1960s to the late 1980s, the pyrethrum industry played a major role in sustaining the livelihood of some 65-85,000 people.

Unfortunately, the clones were lost in farmers’ fields.

 The loss was beyond a retraceable point as farmers lost interest in the crop.

 This contributed to delivery of fewer flowers by farmers to an extraction factory and thus resulted in the fall of the industry in 1995.

The pyrethrum industry was worth K350, 000 to K400, 000 with annual production of 300 tonnes in the early 1970’s until the closure.

However, since 2003, NARI Tambul has recollected available pyrethrum clones that were found in farmer fields in the Sirunki area and established a germplasm collection at the Taluma Research Station.

This was done with the aim to improve pyrethrum clones by poly-crossing among them. It was also a step forward for reviving the pyrethrum industry with the identification and selection of improved clones.

In addition, NARI has also worked on addressing crop husbandry in relation to improvement in flower yields through assessment on cultural husbandry practices such as plant spacing, slashing off tops, fungal disease severity and improved drying methods. This includes generation and production of technical information for dissemination to farmers and stakeholders.

For the pyrethrum industry to be fully re-commercialised, the farming communities need to be well equipped with technical knowledge and skills on pyrethrum crop husbandry which are adopted into their farming systems.

 This has been the main focus of various collaborators now involved in the re-commercialisation of the pyrethrum industry in PNG.

The industry has picked up since recently due to a sound partnership arrangement between the extension team of the Enga Pyrethrum Company and the NARI Tambul research team in terms of production and dissemination of technical information through distribution of posters, information leaflet and improved planting materials.

 Farmers and farming communities have cultivated 18 improved pyrethrum clones which were distributed as preliminary released planting materials since early 2006 through the collaboration.

As a result there is significant increase in production of more than 145 tonnes in 2008, compared to less than 40 tonnes in 2005.

Currently, the Enga Pyrethrum Company Holdings Ltd (EPC) is purchasing dried flowers from farmers and selling its product, oleoresin, in crude, to Botanical Resources Australia based in Tasmania, Australia.

EPC started off with the purchase of 40 tonnes in 2005 and gradually increased to 145 tonnes in 2008.

According to the pyrethrum extraction factory at the outskirt of Mt Hagen City, the extraction efficiency of the plant has improved mainly due to high pyrethrin level of dried flowers, improvement in farmers’ level of understanding of the crop husbandry through awareness and availability of improved planting materials.

With the improvement in the level of understanding of the crop by growers and farming communities, the industry would serve as a giant sole cash earner in the marginalised sketches of high altitude highlands of PNG.

Hereafter, the industry would foster downstream processing and farmers can be paid much higher price for their produce.

 It can be paid on the pyrethrin content and not dried weight as it is at present.

The industry has great potential in subsequently establishing multiple export markets overseas for selling of raw materials as well as processed products.

Pyrethrum crop is a sustainable and viable industry for rural marginalised farmers in the high altitude highlands of the country.

The industry has a great potential, having had the most-conducive environmental conditions, production cycle all year round, availability of improved clones with more than three years of expanded life span of the farm, and multiple established overseas markets for the produce and processed products.

Counting down to crowning day

Seven young contestants for the Hiri Hanenamo crown, led by 22-year-old Wari Gou from Barakau (from left) yesterday lined up at the Botanical Gardens in Port Moresby to strut their stuff for photographers, The National reports. With Gou are 18-year-old Mary Kone from Tubusereia; Hebou Morea, 22, Porebada; Sese Boge, 20, Gaire; Bele Nou, 18, Manumanu; Venessa Vagi, 17, and 23-year-old Carolyn Sabadi both from Boera village. The contestants will line up to be judged during the Hiri Moale Festival on Sept 16, coinciding with the country’s Independence Day celebrations. – Nationalpic by AURI EVA

Students quit Unitech campus

By ELLEN TIAMU

 

MOST students at the University of Technology in Lae have left the campus and apparently abandoned the six final weeks of the academic year, The National reports.

While the Unitech administration was counting on normal classes to resume today, only a handful of students from other provinces, along with those from Enga and international students, mainly from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, were left at the Taraka campus along with the East and West Sepik male students.

Many students from other highlands provinces had left the campus with six bus and truckloads of Chimbu students, out of fear of retribution, hurriedly leaving for Kundiawa last Saturday, courtesy of their provincial administration and the Morobe provincial government.

Many other students, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire between Simbus and Sepiks, were living off campus awaiting resumption but dreading that the Unitech council may not extend the school year.

Sepik students at the campus were adamant the academic year should not resume unless the Chimbu student perpetrators, allegedly involved in the killing of a first-year applied physics student last Thursday night, were arrested and prosecuted and the university administration gave them assurances to safeguard their lives. 

The Sepiks met with Unitech registrar Allan Sako and acting vice-chancellor Prof Mohammed Sater yesterday morning in relation to a petition they presented to the university administration last Saturday evening which, among other things, called for the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Chimbu students alleged involved in the clashes and the death.

The petition also demanded the removal of Kuima Security, which guards the campus premises, saying they failed to maintain peace during the fights.

The university administration was also blamed for not doing enough when the fights first started last Tuesday, resulting in the hospitalisation of a student.

Sepik students were angered that the university had failed to report last Tuesday’s initial fight to Lae police which, they said, could have deterred further clashes last Thursday evening. 

In response, the administration said police investigations were underway with Sepik and Chimbu students, security personnel and university officers being interviewed.

Sako said the Unitech council would meet to consider security measures at the campus.

He said Chimbu students, allegedly involved in the fight, would be identified and dealt with under existing university rules and regulations with termination a possible option.

The same course of action, the university said, would apply to students from East and West Sepik who were found to have breached these same regulations.

There was a slight altercation at the student mess yesterday afternoon when Western Highlands students, prevented from eating at the mess, stoned an Engan student who was allowed to use the facilities.

The Sepik students were angry that a Western Highlands student, known to them, was instrumental in the fight at the mess last Thursday resulting in the death of a Sepik student.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, who is also East Sepik MP, had insisted that a report on the campus killing and fight be sent to him by yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Morobe Governor Luther Wenge said he was saddened by the events and offered to assist Sepik students “in any way possible”.

Security measures on campus were being beefed up with heavy mobile police presence.

 

Agiru, Tiensten prefer SDP over Vision 2050

THE National Government’s 20-year strategic development plan (SDP) is set to take off as the medium term development strategy nears its 10-year cycle.

Key players in the government preferred the SDP to the Vision 2050, arguing it was properly costed and had realistic targets, The National reports.

The SDP was conceptualised by Planning Minister Paul Tiensten, who foreshadowed the 20-year plan when he delivered a stinging attack on the 40-year plan (later named Vision 2050) during the mining and petroleum conference in Sydney in December 2008.

The SDP is costed around K250 billion over 20 years,

starting next year.

The medium term development plan will take up the first five years of SDP, and a growth concept Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru would kick-start next year is called PRAEC (petroleum resource area economic corridor).

“I want to champion PRAEC for the next five years,” Agiru said yesterday.

Under PRAEC, various projects would be developed and funded along the corridor area.

These projects are expected to spur growth in these areas, which will mostly be affected by the petroleum projects now under way.

“Under PRAEC, Southern Highlands and Hela will be the envy of the rest of PNG. Gulf, Western, Enga and Central will also benefit from this concept,” Tiensten said when commenting on the move by Agiru.

Agiru said he believed Vision 2050 was only a dream.

He said the ideals of 2050 were already captured in the constitution.

“Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare envisaged this and captured it in our constitution. It has been there for 35 years.

“We do not need Vision 2050. It is not costed. We do not know where it will start and finish,” Agiru said.

While Agiru kick-starts PRAEC, other parts of PNG will also have their own growth concepts under this plan.

For the funding commitment of the SDP to be fully realised, the government may relax restrictions, placed by the medium term fiscal strategy and other laws or policies, so government can access funds to inject into the 20-year plan.

Government sources said the government might borrow against future earnings, given the national debt to GDP ratio had fallen below 50%, to fund this strategy since most of the programmes were development-oriented and would trigger economic growth and create wealth in the 20 years.

 

Report gives warning signs of flaws

THE Misima crash that killed three Australians and a New Zealander last Tuesday has also exposed serious concerns about Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s (CASA) handling of Trans Air’s operations and anger about the allegedly poor performance of some of the parties involved in Australian investigations into the Kokoda disaster last year, The National reports.

Popular Australian website Crikey, reported that while the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) had agreed to a Papua New Guinea invitation to assist in its investigation at the site where the operator’s Citation II jet crashed off the runway on Misima Island, its involvement is being kept at levels Port Moresby considers appropriate to an aviation accident rather than a political circus.

Information given to Crikey said a massive and costly inquiry by Australian authorities – including the department of environment, water, heritage and the arts as well as the ATSB, CASA and department of foreign affairs and trade – into the crash of a PNG Airlines Twin Otter while descending toward the Kokoda airstrip last Aug 11 produced a report “so badly flawed that it was withdrawn without a detailed release after the PNG authorities objected to what they regarded as factual errors and mistakes within it”.

Crikey said: “That crash killed 13 people, including nine Australians about to embark on the Kokoda Track walk.

“An official and detailed PNG report into the tragedy is in preparation for public release on a date to be announced.

“The anger in Port Moresby over CASA’s alleged ‘persecution’ of Trans Air and one of its co-owners, Les Wright, who died in last Tuesday’s crash is not about Wright’s numerous offences against Australian safety regulations while chief pilot and part owner of the earlier Transair, which went out of business after the crash of its Metroliner turbo-prop while approaching Lockhart River in far northern Queensland on May 7, 2005, killing all 15 people on board.

“Rather it is about a perceived vendetta against the PNG Trans Air operation, in which Wright had no role in its management of safety, and which officials in Port Moresby saw as an attempt by CASA to deflect blame for its complicity in the Lockhart River crash.

“To summarise from privileged documents, the ATSB in its inquiry in the 2005 crash blamed inadequate and ineffective CASA oversight of Wright and Transair as a contributing factor, in that if CASA had done its job the accident would never have happened.

“These claims, subsequently pursued by the relatives of the Lockhart River dead through senate committee hearings into CASA and aired in a coronial inquest, are well supported.

“The CASA ‘vendetta’ against Wright and Trans Air failed after the administrative appeals tribunal in January reversed the regulator’s refusal to issue a certificate of approval for its medical evacuation and related flight activities between PNG and Australia.

“Those flights used the same jet that was destroyed on Tuesday after it was observed to aquaplane off the Misima Island airstrip in heavy rain and crash into trees.

“Wright is now dead, and following the comments about him and Trans Air made by CASA, which sought to leverage positive spin on its failures to deal with Transair in 2005, so is its reputation in PNG.”