State urged to settle K4.4m compensation

By ELIZABETH VUVU

 

NEW Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan has demanded that the provincial administration and parties at Waigani conclude a longstanding land settlement claim of K4.4 million for the Tigak landowners of Kavieng town, The National reports.

He directed provincial administrator Simeon Malai to liaise with the Department of Lands and Physical Planning and accelerate process to settle the matter.

Sir Julius said in a statement that the Kavieng landowners had adhered to the spirit of cooperation under the memorandum of agreement signed between the parties last year, but lack of commitment by the national government had frustrated the people.

“It seems that issues affecting New Ireland get no priority attention by the national government, and that is unwarranted.”

The governor met with landowner representatives last Friday and was briefed on the matter.

Sir Julius said he was disappointed that the Department of Lands and Physical Planning had failed to honour the government’s commitments to the villagers of Omo, Bagail, Mongol, Kulangit and Papliang.

“They have been fighting a longstanding land compensation claim dating back to the colonial era.”

Records showed that the early administration had promised to acquire the Kavieng town land which was later given legal title and valued at K 4.41 million in 1988 by the Kavieng District Court.

 

 

 

 

 

Locals switch off Telikom station

By ZACHERY PER

 

VITAL telecommunication transmitters at Mt Otto repeater station in Eastern Highlands were shut down yesterday by landowners frustrated over outstanding compensation issues, The National reports.

More than 50 men from the Sehayuha clan of Kotuni village that owns portion of land where Telikom, bemobile and Digicel went to the site and switched off all the facilities.

Director of Goroka Security Services John Siga, also a member of Sehayuha clan, said they had internal disagreement over the chairmanship of the local association and the non-payment for the use of land prompted them to shut down the facilities.

Siga said the three main telecommunication service providers were using the facility to make a lot of money while the landowners’ demands remained outstanding.

 “We are now waiting for management of the three communication companies to come to the site to address the demands before communication is restored,” Siga said.

He said his guards and policemen at the site could not do much as they were overpowered by the frustrated locals.

“We hope to sort the issue out as soon as possible as communication services are very important,” Siga said.

The communication services were switched off at 11am yesterday which was deemed an illegal move contravening Telecommunication Act as leading and tampering with public facilities.

Eastern Highlands police commander Chief Supt Augustine Wampe deployed a unit of Goroka-based mobile squad 14 to provide security for properties and employees at the site.

The deployment came into effect on Tuesday when threats were issued for destruction to communications facilities at Mt Otto by landowners.

He said police were now providing heavy security surveillance at the site, adding they would use the full force of the law if any landowners try to get out of hand.

Wampe said communication services were important and there were other avenues available to bring about grievances before taking the law into their own hands.

“Ring leaders will be dealt with severely should the situation get out of hand,” he warned.

Communications through mobile phones and Telikom landlines as well as electronic bank data transfers were cut off.

The three huge communication towers at Mt Otto serve the Highlands and Momase region.

 

 

Trio charged with aiding ship escape

By ELIZABETH VUVU

 

EAST New Britain police have arrested two senior male officers from a shipping agent and a senior female customs officer with aiding in the illegal departure of vessel UBT Fjord, which was alleged to have stolen crude oil worth K14.5 million from Autonomous Region of Bougainville, The National reports.

ENB police commander Supt Sylvester Kalaut said Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) manager Davis Tumari from Tufi along with his officer Jack Puipui from Matupit were charged with aiding the Captain of the ship, Ye Wi Aung.

Since both men were also held liable for stealing, they were charged under Section 7 of the Criminal Act. Both were arrested and are still in police custody.

A senior exports officer with Customs in Kokopo, Pirita ToBung, was also arrested and charged with aiding as she had signed and stamped the documents provided by ISS and thus giving it lawful authority.

She is out on K2, 000 bail and will appear before the Kokopo district court for mention today (Thursday).

Kalaut said Ubt Fjord’s company in Singapore had emailed ISS requesting for 55 metric tonnes of fuel oil for the vessel.

ISS filled in the forms and took to Customs to sign which was later given to Islands Petroleum depot in Rabaul to give this amount of fuel.

On Dec 22 last year this fuel was given to the crew on the ship. The ship then reportedly sneaked out of the Simpson Harbour last Saturday.

Kalaut said due to the vessel leaving the country’s shores, the State had been permanently deprived of the use of the crude oil as State property.

He said the two officers from ISS had not even informed authorities formally when this fuel was given to the crew on the vessel.

It is understood, the National Fisheries Authority had alerted fishing vessels out in at sea to look out for the vessel.

 

 

Gulf steps up cholera fight

By ALISON ANIS

 

A 12-year-old girl is among six people from Gulf admitted with cholera at the Kerema Hospital, The National reports.

Senior community health officer at the hospital’s main outpatient, accidents and death section, Farapo Kauoi, said the girl and five adults were admitted last week after the hospital discharged more than 40 people treated for cholera since New Year.

Kauoi, who has served as health officer in the province for 33 years, said they had treated more than 100 patients since the first outbreak reports in Gulf last October.

“There had been no deaths at the hospital since the first case was detected and I would like to commend the medical team and hard working staff of the hospital for their effort under very stressful conditions in treating and monitoring patients,” Kauoi said.

“We fear that more people will come after this so we are stepping up our efforts on awareness and other preventative measures especially in hot spot areas in the province,” Kauoi said.   

Kauoi said people from neighbouring villages of Opau, including Silo, Mewaripi across Kerema Bay, Lapari, Siviri, Karaita, Marua, Wamai, Uamai and Kerema town were affected.

“Our first case was detected at Uamai village on Sept 7. Since then and up until Dec 31, we’ve admitted 62 patients. We have also received one child below five years of age and were able to maintain the young patient’s condition,” he said.

Kauoi said they had to convert the hospital’s outpatient area into cholera care centre as more patients came in.

“We have divided the outpatient into three cubicles and it is very risky situation right now because we are mixing people with cholera with those that are not affected.”

“We have been putting patients on the floor and some along corridors because of the small space.”

Kauoi also said the provincial government, and the health division had turned a blind eye on the situation and called on them to set up a cholera care centre at once to cater for expected increases of cholera patients from riverside communities.

 

 

Sir Pato and Ogio qualify

Critics say it’s a plot

 

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

 

THE deadline for nominations for the governor-general’s post lapsed at 4pm yesterday with only two candidates confirmed, The National reports.

It was understood that government candidate Michael Ogio and Sir Pato Kakaraya were the only nominees who would go through the secret ballot tomorrow.

Parliament would resume at 10am.

The nominations would go through thorough screening today to ensure all requirements were met before tomorrow’s elimination process.

Ogio is the current member for North Bougainville and is also higher education minister. He would automatically quit his job as MP and minister if he is successful. The win would also mean Ogio losing his parliamentary leadership of PDM.

Critics said the move was a ploy to destabilise the National Alliance-led government as the governor-general would become a “rubber stamp”.

They said Ogio’s only active duty, if he wins, would be to invite the leader of the party, which wins most seats, to form government after the 2012 general elections.

Sir Pato is a pioneer politician who was voted into office in 1972.

He is also a respected Lutheran church leader.

Sir Pato was one of the first highlands MP with Sir Tei Abal to support Sir Michael Somare gain independence for PNG.

As a strong Pangu man, he also supported Paias Wingti become the first highlands prime minister.

Sir Pato was raised by the Lutheran missionaries in Siassi, and had gained the support of Morobe Governor Luther Wenge.

Sir Pato was the first environment and conservation minister and also held the works and public utilities and home affairs portfolios during his time as a politician.

Sir Pato had been contesting the GG’s post since 2002.

 

 

Agriculture college has key role to play in development

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

HAC acting principal Philip Senat congratulates Wesley Mapa of West New Britain province for being the dux of the 2010 certificate in agriculture class. Mapa came top in management studies, crops and soils, livestock and rural engineering

The Highlands Agricultural College will continue to play an important role in enhancing human resource capacity for the agriculture sector.
However, the college, operated by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock in Mt Hagen, needs adequate funding to support infrastructure development and institutional strengthening programmes.
DAL’s director for agriculture education and training, Cecilia Kagena, made the remarks during the college’s 37th graduation recently.
A total of 89 students graduated with post-certificate diplomas in tropical agriculture and certificates in agriculture farming.
Kagena, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of the DAL secretary and ministry, said the college, which had produced over 2,000 post-certificate diploma graduates and over 1,500 participants on numerous specialised short training courses, had a special place in the history of agriculture development.
“The college will continue to play a key role in teaching and training both the farmers and the training of trainers who will assist others to improve their living standards, reduce poverty and hunger,” she said.
“Provision of appropriate training will increase the farmer’s capacity to realise their potential to develop their own solutions to emerging and unique challenges they face.
“With the national government’s emphasis in its PNG vision 2050 and the medium-term development programme on human resource capacity development, the college has a huge role to play in enhancing the human resource capacity for the sector.
“Everyone must be mindful that despite the mineral and petroleum boom, the agriculture sector remains the backbone of the country for years to come.”
Kagena said whilst the government had come up with policies and strategies to promote agriculture development, there was inadequate funding made available to support institutional strengthening programs and the college has suffered as a result.
She urged relevant agencies including national planning and monitoring department to give priority to the agriculture budget “if we are to be seen as implementers of the vision 2050 pillar on human capital development and wealth creation”.
Despite inadequate funding for the college operations, Kagena commended the college management and staff for their achievements leading to the successful graduation.
She commended the staff for their tireless efforts in conducting three training programmes run concurrently during the year.
Staff were also informed that there would be more opportunities for staff training programmes in 2011 to enhance their teaching skills.
Kagena told the graduating students that getting formal jobs was not everything and urged them to utilise their knowledge and skills to become farmers themselves.
“Obtaining a certificate is a great personal achievement and a start to a new chapter in your professional career in agriculture,” she said.
“However, I am extremely confident that with the certificate in your hand today, it would make your a more attractive candidate for a job, or as a community leader or as an entrepreneur anywhere in the agriculture sector.
“Be reminded that while we have the LNG project going crazy in recruiting young graduates, do not be sidetracked, however, be mindful also that as farmers we also have the opportunity and a duty to feed the people and be self-sustaining.”

Fight against an invasive alien weed

By JOSEPHINE YAGA of NARI

Mikania project leader Annastasia Kawi conducting laboratory studies on rust fungus, Puccinia spegazzini, in the NARI post-entry quarantine (PEQ) constant temperature room at NARI Kerevat, East New Britain

An alien is any species that is found out of its historically normal range.
Often the species will not survive as may not adapt to its new locale due to the locale having slightly different temperatures, seasonal variation, humidity, wind, predators, pests or diseases.
However, in a minority of cases, a plant will be able to survive.
Even more rarely, perhaps in 10% of cases, an alien will thrive in its new location better than in its original location.
This is often because of the absence of a predator or pest that would normally keep the species in check, and because of a biological trait that predisposes it to fast colonisation, such as a fast growth rate and the production of many seeds.
When this happens, the species can spread quickly to become very common and dominant in its new habitat, and is known as ‘invasive’.
A regional workshop on bio control heard that in the Pacific, 300–500 plant species could be regarded as invaders, with about 150 species classified as aggressive.
Mikania micrantha is one such aggressive and invasive weed species.
Often called “mile-a-minute weed”, it can grow as fast as one metre per month.
Mikania is a very destructive invasive weed which spreads far and wide and smothers other plants.
It is found in 17 Pacific Island countries and territories including Papua New Guinea.
Mile-a-minute is thought to have arrived in the Pacific islands in the early 1900s as contaminants of various imported products and is suspected to be a relatively new addition to the flora of PNG.
It has spread rapidly in most islands and coastal plains of mainland New Guinea.
Mikania has been suppressing forest regeneration or has changed the ecology of areas.
Analysis from a socio-economic survey conducted on Mikania indicated that 80% of the respondents in 15 lowland provinces consider mikania as a problematic weed.
Approximately 44% of farmers of subsistence mixed cropping control M. micrantha at least once a fortnight and implies that a lot of their time is spent on clearing this weed from their land.
The fight against mile-a-minute as an invasive weed in the Pacific’s agricultural sector and food security areas has been picking up in the past years with the release in Fiji and PNG of a pathogen rust fungus, to control mikania.
The rust fungus, scientifically known as Puccinia spegazzini, was imported to Fiji by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the ministry of agriculture as part of their Mikania bio-control project.
The Fiji government gave the permission to import Puccinia following host specificity testing conducted on behalf of Fiji and PNG by the world-renowned Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau International (CABI), based in England.
Some plants, important to PNG and Fiji, were tested by CABI Europe-UK during the whole of 2006 against this rust fungus to make sure it did not attack any of our useful plants or native flora in the Pacific.
Host specificity testing confirmed that the rust fungus was host-specific and restricted to mikania only.
This biological control agent would help reduce unnecessary weeding costs such as labour and herbicide.
Preliminary results from Laboratory studies and field monitoring observations conducted at National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) Kerevat suggests that mikania growth can be suppressed or reduced when the rust fungus is present on the bio-mass.
In November2008, the rust fungus was imported into PNG as part of an Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR)-funded project to control the Mikania weed.
CABI Europe-UK infected mikania plants grown from stock plants obtained from PNG early in November 2008.
Later that month, the plants were hand-carried to PNG NARI Kerevat by SPC project coordinator Warea Orapa.
Upon arrival, the UK-infected plants were transplanted into sterilised soil with water and placed in an inoculation chamber in the NARI post entry quarantine (PEQ) constant temperature room.
This rust fungus is the first of its kind to be introduced in PNG.
At NARI Kerevat, the rust is maintained and mass propagated for field distribution and monitoring.
Inoculation procedures and culturing, impact assessment, field release and monitoring of the rust are work undertaken to assess the progress of the rust and prevent contamination or pest outbreak.
The monitoring activities were jointly conducted by Mikania project staff from PNG Cocoa and Coconut Institute (PNGCCI), PNG Oil Palm Research Association (PNGOPRA) and NARI who are major collaborators of the ACIAR project in PNG.

Field release on rust fungus to the Oil Palm Research Association (OPRA) staff at Hoskins in 2009

The rust fungus controls mikania by developing many swollen lumps on leaves, stems and petioles forming copper-colored lumps on the surface of the dead plant parts.
High infection densities of these will reduce the ability of the weed to grow and become aggressive and death can be possible in conditions favourable to the fungus.
During the preliminary field release and monitoring strategy observation done in early 2009 at NARI Kerevat, infected plants were placed in amongst mikania-growing under cocoa and monitored for establishment.
Pustules were observed on mikania growing around the infected plants after three weeks.
Field release techniques used in different microhabitats, found that irrespective of the number of pustules, size of infected pots and time of releases, the rust establishes more easily on young growth stages of mikania compared to mature dense infestations.
Mikania project leader, Annastasia Kawi said: “The results of the average number of leaves infected and average number of pustules present on young mikania three weeks after field release suggests that the rust, when released in conducive environmental conditions, can survive.”
She added that the rust fungus had been released in 46 sites in East New Britain since January 2009 and monitoring of sites was conducted to confirm host specificity of the rust in natural environment.
At NARI Kerevat, the rust had been found growing on mikania near many different plant species and to date no inoculation has been observed on cultivated or wild species of any plant other than mikania.
Mikania has been recorded to be present in 1,052 sites in 15 provinces (excluding Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Western Highlands, Enga and Southern Highlands province) in PNG.
The bio-control control agent (rust fungus) has been released in 454 sites in those 15 provinces to date.
A total of 80 sites have established in eight provinces and natural spread has been monitored up to 37km after one year.
Since the rust fungus was field established in 2009 in East New Britain and other provinces, monitoring of field establishment have been an important activity of the project.
It is observed that initial establishment is conducive in total or partial shade and near waterways, hence, once established it does well in wetter and cooler environment.
Kawi cautioned farmers to be observant of the biological control agent as it was environmental-friendly, acted as an alternate control option and sustainable in rural farming communities.
More information on the mikania weed can be obtained from NARI Islands regional centre in Keravat on 983 9145/9200.