About 300 cocoa farmers in the Huon Gulf district of Morobe are now reaping the fruits of
their labour after selling 2,000-plus bags of dried cocoa beans generating K8 million in total.
The revenue comes from the total sales of cocoa-dried beans from the area in the first
quarter of 2023 alone.
The Babuaf cocoa farmers’ cooperative is a leading farmers’ group based in Wames project
site in the Lower Watut area in Wampar local level government (LLG) in Huon Gulf, Morobe.
The cooperative and others from the area have been hard at work trying to produce world-
class cocoa representing Morobe and Papua New Guinea as a whole.
Babuaf is made up of five smaller villages whose inhabitants have been living and sustaining
their livelihoods from the cash crop for years.
Babuaf now operates some 42 hectares with cocoa being harvested and sold every other
week.
Chepan Yaling, a field officer and veteran cocoa breeder in the industry with over 15 years
of cocoa breeding experience who was also trained under the leadership of Joel Efron, an
Israeli who is considered one of the world’s imminent plant breeders has been using his
knowledge and experience to assist farmers by ensuring that the farmers affiliated to the
cooperative were captured under relevant training in cocoa husbandry practices.
“Cocoa production has taken a flourishing turn and with new direction and initiatives
through the National Volunteer Services (NVS) has also contributed to a substantial increase
in cash flow within the communities,” Chepan said.
“The purpose of this project is to produce a quality cash crop that could be able to sustain
the lives of the Babuaf communities as a pioneer project and to bring this knowledge to
assist others in similar rural settings.”
