By Theckla Gunga – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Rubber farmers in Western Province are concerned that the rubber they produced is being bought at a price lower than the actual buying price.
Kawito villagers in the Middle Fly District grow rubber for an income, but the buying price is not satisfactory.
Kawito village is situated along the Fly River in Western Province.
Villagers in Kawito, rely heavily on money they receive from the sale of rubber.
Omawa Gawaga, a community leader says the normal price for rubber is K3 per kilo, however, buyers are paying 80 toea for one kilogram.
In Papua New Guinea, rubber plantations have been established in Central and Western Provinces.
Between the 1950s and 1970s, rubber had contributed about 12 percent of the total income in the agriculture sector.
However, most farmers turned to coffee and copra farming when the crops were introduced in the 1960s; but for Kawito villagers, rubber remains the main cash crop for them.
