By Sylvester Gawi – EM TV, Lae
Bulolo district will soon have a buai subsidy program to assist people from remote villages to transport buai into Wau town and sell.
Buai is the only cash crop in the remote villages of Tekadu, Anandia and Nukewa, in Wau Rural LLG.
There’s no road linking the area and this has made it difficult to earn an income.
Throughout Papua New Guinea, buai is a mainstay for the local people, including the middle-income earners in urban centres.
At Tekadu, in the Wau rural LLG in Bulolo, the supply is very high.
But it has been difficult to get the crop to towns and cities.
“The first buai charter will go to Anandia, Koroma and then to Tekadu . They will shift about 600 kilograms of buai from Tekadu airstrip to Wau,”says Bulolo MP Sam Basil.
This is one place that the government’s much talked about rural focus cannot be seen or felt.
There are no schools and no health services.
“At the moment, they got nothing, they do not have schools, aid posts and not even any government attention.”
While buai is being banned in big cities like Port Moresby, it is big business in Momase and the Highlands provinces.
Today, much of the buai supply comes from the Oro, Madang and East Sepik provinces, but the supply from Tekadu is expected to bring in more revenue for the Bulolo people.
“We would expect aggressive buyers from Lae to congregate in Wau, and it will boost the economy of the Wau township,” says Basil.
The buai subsidy program, when in full operation, will boost the economy of the Bulolo district.
More small businesses will be established in areas of transport and informal sector.
