By Sharon Engnui
Coffee Production will drop significantly if the government continues to turn a blind eye to the coffee berry borer situations that are taking a hit in the Highlands Region.
A Plantation and Factory owner from Western highlands Province pins a spotlight on this issue recently.
Coffee is considered to be the very important commodity recognized globally and it creates employment and stimulates economic growth and is a multi-million-kina industry.
Grassroots from the villages depend immensely on coffee to sustain themselves financially. However, the Coffee Berry Borers now remain as the greatest threats to the production of Coffee and poses a challenge to the people that depend on coffee.
A local coffee plantation owner from Western Highlands Province, So Mea highlights the impact of the coffee berry borers. “This coffee berry borer situation is affecting the production; we are making a great weight loss of 35% to 40%,” he said
Mr. Mea who employs over 1500 workers says the situation is forcing him to lay off workers from his plantation. He said government through its relevant departments needs to intervene.
Since the establishment of the Coffee Ministry in August of last year of 2022 this issue seems to be falling on deaf ears.
On many occasions, the President of the farmers and settlers’ association Wilson Thompson called on various government departments, DAL, CIC, NAQIA and NARI to immediately undertake field research on the situation on the containment of the disease, but nothing has been done to date.
