by Bethanie Harriman – EM TV News, Lae
Coffee Industry Corporation General Manger, Dr. Kenny Mark has called on the government to support coffee based agricultural small to medium enterprises.
“We helped four cooperatives establish themselves with fair trade, but in the next five to 10 years we would like to see cooperatives in every part of the country” said Dr. Mark.
The Papua New Guinean coffee industry produces around 1.5 million bags of coffee each year and is praused for its consistency worldwide.
That consistency is a result of the work done by local farmers, along with support from the coffee industry corporation.
In terms of growth coffee exports, both Arabica and Robusta, are worth over K900 million and are PNG’s largest agricultural contributor.
Coffee cooperatives have played a vital role in that growth, like Morobe’s Neknasi which has received support from the provincial government to build a coffee mill.
Coffee now has the potential to give Papua New Guineans the opportunity to build agricultural SMEs in the coffee industry, and at the same time put vital money into the economy of our nation.
