Parliament was toldthere are about three million Papua New Guineas who produce coffee butthere are no incentives for the simple farmers, a concern highlighted bythe Member for Goroka, Bere Kimisopa.
It’s onethe country’s biggest industry, in factthe coffee industry contributes about K520 million, one that directly benefits coffee growers inthe country. Bet atthe end ofthe day, simple farmers are only paid about K5 per kilo for green beatns with no incentives to subsidizethe cost of gettingthese bags tothe coffee buyer inthe first instance.
With allthese issues at hand,the Member for Goroka enquired ifthe Agriculture Department had incentives in place. He asked whatthe government was doing to assist growers andthe industry itself.
Agriculture Minister, Tommy Tomscoll saidthe problems faced bythe CoffeeIndustry arethe same ones faced by cocoa, and copra producers. He said inaccessibility to markets, landowner issues contributes tothe problems.
The Agriculture Department is currently working on a formula to price all cash crops. This means farmers will be able to selltheir cash crops usingthe fixed price set bythe line department.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=N8HcSCqbcEM%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
