New DAL Acting Secretary...4 AGRICULTURE NIUS VOLUME 39, ISSUE 3, MAY/JUNE 2018 An Agriculture and Fisheries Food Show (AFF) will be staged during the APEC Food Security Week (FSW),

“I am calling on everyone, chief executives and managing directors and staff of the commodity boards and agencies and DAL to work together with the Acting Secretary, work as a team, work with all stakeholders, to lift the profile of the de-partment and the agriculture sector.”

“I want you all to support each other and work as a team and make decisions in the best interest of the sector and the country.”

Mr Daink thanked the Minister for having confidence in him to lead the de-partment in the next three months and assured him that he would do his best to get the department in order and work hard to lift its profile.

He will ensure that decisions are made collectively and in the best interest of the department and sector. He will also ensure that senior management executive meetings are held regularly and every officer is utilized with his or her specific knowledge and skills to make meaningful contribution to support DAL activities.

Mr Daink has served for 33 years in DAL having commenced as a scientific officer. He has solid background and sound knowledge in soils, soils and land resource surveys, soil genesis and classification, land evaluation and land use planning. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture Degree from the University of PNG, Post Graduate Diploma in Soil Survey, International Institute of Aerospace and Earth Sciences. The Netherlands.

He has previously served as Deputy Secretary for Provincial Agricultural and Technical Services in DAL from 2004—2011, and has attended many internation-al meetings and workshops. From time to time, he has been appointed as Acting Secretary. He has been awarded the Logohu Medal for distinguished services to the agriculture sector.

The Department of Agriculture and Livestock has a new Acting Secretary.

He is Mr Francis Daink, the current Deputy Secretary for Policy Planning and Coordination Division.

Mr Daink, who is from the Madang Province, will be acting Secretary for three months until the National Ex-ecutive Council appoints a permanent Secretary.

The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan, announced the acting appointment at a press conference on July 3. He said Mr Daink has been appointed to replace Dr Vele Pat Ila’ava whose contract ended on June 26 this year.

In making the announcement in the presence of chief executives of agricultural commodity boards and agencies and senior staff of DAL, the Minister appealed for support and cooperation from everyone to enable the new Acting Secretary to perform his role effectively and efficiently.

Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Central Government Office (CGO), Level 2B. Kumul Avenue, WAIGANI.

Appoint Agricultural Commodity Boards 2 Plan for impact projects to benefit PNG 2

Preparations set for 2018 APEC Food Security week. 3

APEC Government Policy Direction 3

Expression of Interest to participate in the Agriculture and Fisheries Food Show during APEC Food Security Week 4

NARI praises DAL APEC team 5 Government Urged to focus on needs of rural farmer groups 5

Fresh produce farm plans bigger things 6 Using blockchain to provide opportunities for PNG farmers 7

Training on Agro-Meteorological Advisory Services to mitigate impact of Climate Change 7

Seed distribution to earthquake affected people 8

Agro-Meteorological Advisories Key to Farmers’ Livelihoods 9 PPAP coffee engages women in bee keeping 10

DAL prepares sites for APEC Leader’s Summit 11 Friend to all, enemy to none- Late David Pone 12

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

New DAL Acting Secretary

New Acting Secretary, Mr. Francis Daink

The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan, has emphasized the importance of appointing fulltime Agricultural Commodity Boards.

The Minister made the call during a briefing with senior man-agement of DAL on the 26th June and stressed again during a press conference on the 3rd July, also attended by commodity board and agency chief executives.

Minister Allan said that the commodity boards must be ap-pointed and start operating during this year.

“We need to lift our game. The onus is on us. We need to take action and ensure that the boards are place.”

The Minister told the senior DAL staff and commodity board

chief executives to work quickly on getting the boards established and operational.

He said the process of appointing directors to the various boards had been com-menced and he expected this to be completed during the year.

The composition of the board appointments varied among the different com-modities with some having interim boards, others with full boards and some with-out a board.

Minister Allan said he wants the boards to be in place so that they can submit their annual reports, financial statements and corporate plans to the ministry and government. He also wants an immediate review of all boards and their respective Acts that they operate under.

2 AGR IC UL TUR E N IUS VO L UME 39, ISSUE 3, MAY/JUN E 2018

AI & PB Going to great lengths to provide Information

EDITORIAL

Greetings and a warm welcome to our

third issue of the Agriculture Nius for

2018. Happy reading!

Agriculture Nius is produced by the

Public Relations and Media Unit and

the Information and Publications

Branch of the Department of Agricul-

ture and Livestock (DAL).

Managing Editor : Nicks Maniha

Editor : Busisi Siwaka

Contributor : Soldier Buruka

Layout & Design : Jackson Kaumana

Distribution : Kari Hira

Contributions : DAL Staff and Sector

Agencies.

Send your Contributions to:

The Editor Agriculture Nius,

P.O. Box 2033,

PORT MORESBY,

National Capital District.

Email: [email protected], or

[email protected]

[email protected]

Appoint Agricultural Commodity Boards

Plan for impact projects to benefit PNG

The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan, has urged his department to plan for impact projects that will benefit the country.

Minister Allan told the senior staff to put more effort into coming up with sus-tainable agriculture projects that are in the best interest of the people.

He was addressing a senior management meeting recently. He told DAL offic-ers that several countries have expressed interest to invest money and resources in the agriculture sector but the onus is on PNG to provide the land and make it con-ducive for investment opportunities. DAL officers were urged to look at potential sites for major agriculture production.

Minister Allan said these countries and investors were prepared to sign memo-randum of agreements and invest millions of dollars. These countries included Chi-na, Philippines and Israel, and they were interested in rice, livestock, and fresh pro-duce, amongst others.

The Minister reiterated that agriculture is the top priority of the Government, however, the sector needed more funding. He told the DAL officers to look at ways to deal with the situation such as getting the commodity boards in place, finalizing outstanding agricultural policies such as the National Rice Policy, revisiting MoUs and MoAs, and others.

He said China and the Philippines want to invest in the rice industry and Israel is interested in livestock development.

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan (second from left) in a briefing with senior DAL Management led by acting Secretary Mr Francis Daink (right).


VO L UME 39, ISSUE 3, MAY/JUN E 2018 AGRICULTURE NIUS, 3

Preparations set for 2018 APEC Food Security Week

Preparations are underway for the 2018 APEC Food Security Week to be held during August.

The focus of the week-long agriculture and fisheries exhibition from August 4 – 10 is on enhancing food se-curity and sustainable agriculture through ICT in re-sponse to climate change, promoting women in agricul-ture and fisheries, and sustainable fisheries management and development.

The Food Security Week theme is “Engaging in Pro-ductive and Sustainable Food Systems”.

The exhibition will be staged during the APEC Sen-ior Officials Meeting (SOM3) in August.

The Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) will jointly host the FSW.

And the organizers have called on interested stake-holders especially in the agricultural food and fisheries industries, small to medium enterprises, farming groups, processors, producers, exporters and others, to make contact with DAL or the NFA and ABAC to submit ex-pressions of interest.

The FSW is a significant event to promote and create awareness on the importance of food security and how the economies can work together to deal with food secu-

rity concerns and issues and all related factors such as climate change.

The agriculture and food show will focus on the dis-plays of food products for trade, new farming innovation and technologies and information. The show will provide an opportunity for value chain actors (farmers, fishers, marketers, buyers, entrepreneurs, etc) from APEC econ-omies to display their products, technology, information, etc, and meet each other and establish contacts to do business in trade and marketing of food products in agri-culture and fisheries and other related food services ac-tivities.

This is an opportunity for PNG to bring together some of the most successful and enterprising agricultural companies, industries, SMEs, and farming groups, to showcase their products to the APEC delegates and the general public.

During the FSW a Policy Partnership on Food Securi-ty (PPFS) Meeting, a High-Level Policy Dialogue on Agriculture Biotechnology (HLPDAB), Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group (ATCWG) Fo-rum, and Ocean Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) Meeting will be held. The PPFS fora has confirmed to have a Dialogue on Women in Agriculture and Fisheries. ABAC will also organize a symposium during the FSW.

PNG’s hosting of APEC 2018 is a National Government policy direction that must be supported by all government departments and agencies and the work-force.

All departments and agencies and their staff are expected to work together and ensure that the Government and the country successfully host APEC 2018. APEC is the top priority for the Govern-ment and requires a concerted effort from everyone to promote its activities.

The Department of Agriculture and Livestock, like all government depart-ments and agencies, was expected to comply with the Government’s directive to ensure that all APEC programs and activities are supported and implemented.

A senior official of DAL, Mr Brown Konabe, made the remarks during a brief-ing with the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan, at DAL headquarters. Mr Konabe, Director of Food Security Branch, is the Coordinator of …..continued on pg 4…

APEC Government Policy Direction

Members of the DAL APEC Policy (Technical) committee during one of their weekly meetings.



An Agriculture and Fisheries Food Show (AFF) will be staged during the APEC Food Security Week (FSW), from 4-10 August 2018 during APEC SOM3 Meetings.

The AFF will be jointly organized by Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), PNG National Fisher-ies Authority (NFA) and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).

The theme for the AFF is “Engaging in Productive and Sustainable Food Systems”.

The AFF will provide an opportunity for food value chain actors (farmers, fishers, marketers, buyers, entre-preneurs, etc) from PNG and other APEC member Econ-omies to show case their products, technology, innova-tion, information and support services in the food value chain. It will also provide an opportunity for entrepre-

neurs to meet and establish contacts to do business in trade and marketing of food products in agriculture and fisheries and other related support services activities such as Logistics, Banking, Finance and ICT.

The AFF Show organizers would like to invite Ex-pression of Interest (EoI) from MSMEs, private sector and public sector participants from agriculture and fish-eries sector food value chains and support services such Logistics, Banking, Finance and ICT to participate in the AFF show.

Please submit your EoI and to register your participa-tion for the AFF Show to:

Mr Heai S. Hoko – DAL Food Security Week Sub-Committee Team Leader, on landline no 3007873 email: heai.centre@gmail

Expression of Interest to participate in the Agriculture and Fisheries Food Show during APEC Food Security Week

…..continued from pg.3…. the DAL APEC Policy (Technical) committee. There are two subcommittees under the main committee – Food Security Week and Logistics.

DAL APEC Policy committee and its sub committees with the endorsement of senior management played a crucial role in organizing the first agricultural and food security meeting held in February and March this year, the Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS), which was an overwhelming success. DAL’s image has been lifted out of gloom by DAL APEC committee and has been recognized nationally and internationally by APEC member economies due to the success of delivering the meetings, formulating new policy initiatives and formu-lation and approval of two concept notes out of two which has never happened before in PNG.

Mr Konabe called on senior officers in DAL for their patience, understanding and co-operation, in relation to APEC activities being carried out by the APEC commit-tees. He urged DAL officers to work with the commit-tees in successfully carrying out their APEC activities. He said officers who have been appointed to the commit-tees have been performing their tasks often in difficult conditions but so far have done well in enhancing a suit-able image of DAL, the agriculture sector and country as a whole.

He said APEC 2018 is a significant international event which PNG is hosting for the very first time, and as such, all government institutions and their employees are required to work closely and support all relevant ac-tivities.

Mr Konabe explained that funding of APEC activities was the responsibility of both the PNG APEC Coordinat-ing Authority (PNGACA) and the respective government departments and agencies. The PNGACA was responsi-ble for meeting some of the costs and it was a govern-ment directive that line departments and agencies must also provide funding for some of the activities. This was the reason why some funding from DAL has been allo-cated for APEC activities.

He said that there will again be another busy meeting schedule in August for agriculture sector and he would like all DAL officers to work closely with and support the DAL APEC committees in performing their duties and tasks.

During the Food Security Week from 4th – 10th Au-gust, DAL again in partnership with other agencies, will be hosting several agriculture and food security meet-ings. These will be the PPFS, Agricultural Technical Co-operation Working Group (ATCWG) and High Level Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Biotechnology (HLPDAB). In addition, there will also be the Women in Agriculture and Fisheries Policy Dialogue, and ABAC symposium. An Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Exhibi-tion will be held during the Food Security Week.

The APEC PNG theme is “Harnessing Inclusive Op-portunities, Embracing the Digital Future”, and the three key priorities are; improving connectivity, deepening regional economic integration, promoting sustainable and inclusive growth, and strengthening economic growth through structural reform.

APEC Meetings for 2018 have already commenced with the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM1) in February and March, 2018, followed by SOM2 in May. SOM3, including the Food Security Week, will be held from 4th – 20th August. The Leader’s Week and the Leader’s Summit will be held in November.

Members of the DAL APEC Policy (Technical) committee, particularly heads of respective fora meetings, being inter-viewed for the NBC Malolo “Lets talk Program.”

A farmer group leader in the Eastern Highlands Province has acknowledged the Government’s focus on the agriculture sec-tor whilst urging it to address the needs of organized farmer groups in his prov-ince.

Benson Kerevie, President of Eastern Highlands Provincial Farmers’ Association said they were happy to hear about the cur-

rent Government’s commitment to develop the agricul-ture sector. However, he said if the Government was serious about developing the agriculture sector it must focus more on the needs of rural people.

Organized farmer groups at the community level was the way forward for rural development as they were the production base. They should be assisted to help them get involved in the cash economy to improve their liveli-hoods and to produce for the export market, Kerevie said.

Kerevie is currently in Port Moresby following up on a K10 million funding commitment made by the previ-ous Government for the Association in 2011, which they still have not received.

He said the Association was the largest organized farmer group in the Eastern Highlands province proba-bly, the entire Highlands region. It has about 243 farmer groups with a total of 350 to 475,000 members affiliated to the Association, both male and female from the whole province.

The aim of the Association was to assist its members in marketing, quality control, and training in the manage-ment of their funds and projects, and preparation of their



Government Urged to focus on needs of rural farmer groups

project proposals for funding assistance from the Gov-ernment or donors.

Kerevie said the Association was already involved in many small-scale projects such as, inland fisheries; live-stock; apiculture; floriculture; rice and wheat; and vege-tables but funding was their biggest need to assist the farmers.

He said the farmers needed training, and technical advice to advance and to help them start up new projects and to improve the quantity and quality of their products to meet the market demands and to attract better prices.

Kerevie who is following up on the 10 million Kina commitment made by the previous Government said the long delay had affected the Association and its farmers and they were struggling and wanted the current Govern-ment to step in and assist them.

“At the moment we are really struggling” Kerevie said. “Government is not recognizing us, but In 2011, the Government recognized us and committed K10 million but we haven’t received any share of that yet. So we want Government to assist us as of today. So I came to follow-up on this commitment.”

“If the Government is serious about developing the agriculture sector, we want them to come down to our level on the ground and work with us to improve the ag-riculture sector so that we can export our commodities at higher prices and bring money into the country,” Kerevie said.

Kerevie also expressed his concern about access to loans from commercial banks such as the National De-velopment Bank and the Microbank. He said the farmers wanted to get loans to start up or develop their projects but the terms and conditions of the banks made it hard for them to get loans.

“We are the people on the ground carrying out the activities. What we do will benefit the people. So the Government must know what we are doing at the ground level and understand our needs. We are the people Gov-ernment is supposed to help.”

Mr. Benson Kerevie, President of Eastern Highlands Provincial Farmers’ Association

Director-General of National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), Dr Sergie Bang, has praised the DAL APEC Policy (Technical) committee and subcommittee for their efforts so far in promoting APEC activities.

Dr Bang said the committee members, with the sup-port of DAL top management and staff, have done well in their preparations to enable the department to success-fully host the various agriculture related meetings start-ing with the Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS) held during SOM1 early this year.

Dr Bang, who will be the Chair of an important agri-culture meeting during SOM3 in August, the High Level Dialogue on Agriculture Biotechnology (HLDAB), con-gratulated the officers led by the Coordinator, Mr Brown Konabe, for their tireless efforts and urged them to main-tain the good work.

NARI praises DAL APEC team

He said the DAL team has done a good job to lift the image and profile of the department, agricultural com-modity boards and agencies, and the agriculture sector, and should be commended by everyone.

“I want to congratulate the DAL APEC team for the excellent work so far and look forward to another suc-cessful Food Security Week in August during SOM3. The team has done well to promote the agriculture sector and we should all be proud of its efforts.”

Dr Bang said he will be chairing a high level APEC meeting for the first time and is looking forward to the occasion in August. He thanked the DAL team for con-tinuously providing the support that was needed.

He met with the committee members recently for an update on the preparations being made for the Food Se-curity Week.



Fresh produce farm plans bigger things

Eden Green Farm is a thriving fresh produce farm just outside Port Moresby that is looking at bigger things.

The Chinese owned and managed farm is a supplier of fresh produce to supermarkets and retail outlets in the nation’s capital.

Situated on about 15ha of land, the farm which em-ploys mostly local women and girls living around the 14 and 15 Mile areas along the Sogeri Road, utilizes organic farming and produces mainly Chinese cabbage, round cabbage, snake bean, pakchoi, chilli, capsicum, radish, egg plant, tomato, zucchini, cucumber, bitter gourd. It has set up a piggery facility to produce fresh pork and is looking at raising ducks.

Officers from the Department of Agriculture and Livestock’s Science and Technology Branch recently visited the farm and were impressed with what they saw. The visit was also to discuss with the farm management the possibility of collaborating to produce mushroom as well as other food crops.

The company officials, John Qiu and Joel Amani, told the DAL team that the area had good soil and irriga-tion for farming activities, hence, there was potential to expand the current production. They also requested DAL to provide further assistance in terms of advice on how

to seek funding and other assistance. This is because the farm can increase its activities, including farmer training, and create more income earning opportunities including employment for local people.

“We are always encouraging our workers to work hard in the farm, if they work hard, they benefit, if they are lazy, they don’t benefit. Besides teaching them about farming, we also include programs such as social liveli-hood, HIV, safety, time management, savings, and oth-ers.”

Mr Qiu and Mr Amani said the company had plans to set up a bigger cool room facility for storage of fresh pro-duce as well as venture into commercial farming of mushroom. But they are willing to discuss further with DAL and other organizations such as National Agricul-ture Research Institute on the plans.

DAL officials said they were pleased with the pro-gress made by the company and will consider the re-quests made and see how they can provide further ad-vice.

Mr Qiu shows off a round cabbage to Theresa Wambon-Kambuy.

DAL officers and Mr Qiu discuss mushroom production DAL officers are given a tour of the farm

DAL officers Mr Elias Taia and Mr Pablo Paulinus admire the fresh produce ready for transporting to the city’s supermarkets



Training on Agro-Meteorological Advisory Services to mitigate impact of Climate Change

ICTs provide actionable information to farming com-munities and governments on disaster prevention, in real-time, while also providing advice on risk-mitigation techniques.

During the official opening of the training on Agro-Meteorological and Advisory Service for PNG sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), Director of the National Weather Ser-vice (NWS), Mr Samuel Maiha said, “any nation’s via-bility and survival is dependent on its ability to produce enough food to feed its people, for export and retain sur-plus to cater for its people during natural disasters. It is very important for Governments to recognize the im-

portance of the agriculture sector. Often times countries may be subjected to illusions of the benefits of the ex-tractive industries and forget the important role agricul-ture plays in the country’s economy. We are living in a world of natural disasters and PNG is no exception. The country has the highest population growth rate in the Pacific region so there is this need to find the balance to cater for the population growth. The National Weather Service recognize the need to support this efforts and this happens to be the PNG regional hub centre for the Pacific Early Warning Centre. The NWS is able to demonstrate to the Government that this is an agency worth investing in. NWS wants to partner with the agri-culture sector, the water ……..continued on page 8

A locally-owned PNG company is keen to work closely with agricultural commodity agencies to intro-duce the blockchain technology.

The company, Agri-Tech Organics (PNG) Limited, says that by using blockchain and crypto-currency, the new innovation will enhance agriculture and rural devel-opment in PNG.

The company has held discussions with the Depart-ment of Agriculture and Livestock and will be approach-ing stakeholders in the agriculture sector, including agri-cultural commodity boards and agencies, agricultural companies, and farmers.

Blockchain is a digital technology platform used to record transactions, confirm identity and establish con-tracts and can be invaluable to the unique PNG setting, hence, Agri-Tech Organics (PNG) Limited believes that its widespread use will stimulate economic growth and enable PNG farmers to trade globally.

The company’s founder and managing director, Christopher Vagalia, told DAL officers that his compa-ny, is already promoting the benefits and use of block-chain and crypto-currency to rural farmers and wants to

Using blockchain to provide opportunities for PNG farmers

include all stakeholders. He said by using the internet, farmers can be connected with the world and can find markets for their products using online facilities. PNG farmers face common needs and challenges and as such the blockchain concept opens up new opportunities to do business.

“We want to connect with the right people to make the system work. Using blockchain technology, we are able to trade globally. The concept allows rural farmers to sell on-line anywhere in the world using crypt-currency as a medium of exchange.

“In line with our vision to connect rural farmers to the global market, we recognize the importance of partnering with key stakeholders such as the Department of Agri-culture and Livestock, with interest similar to our own.

“As the body responsible for facilitating and improving agriculture knowledge and skills through the provision of technical advice, management support, sustainable agri-cultural systems and practices, we are confident that working together in a collaborative effort will result in a win-win situation for all.”

Mr Vagalia said his company can work in partnership with DAL and its sectoral agencies In providing the tech-nical expertise required by the farmers in assisting them to produce a quality product ready for market, and to serve the people more effectively employing the latest in emerging technologies and sound industry knowledge.

He said the company’s services besides awareness on online marketing platform using blockchain, included farmer training, SME consultations, advisory and finan-cial services, banking, women in business, software de-velopment and ICT.

DAL officers described the presentation by Agri-Tech company as timely and exciting for the agriculture sector and was in line with PNG’s theme for APEC 2018 which is “Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embrac-ing the Digital Future” and the PNG National E-Agriculture Strategy.

Mr Christopher Vagalia (left) with DAL officers after the presentation

vide comprehensive weather information packages to benefit the agriculture sector in dealing with climate change.”

The Head of FAO PNG office, Mr Ken Shimizu said “actionable agricultural adviso-ry is an activity under the e-agriculture pro-ject in collaboration with DAL, NICTA and ITU. There are a number of outputs under the e-agriculture project. One is the develop-ment of the e-agriculture strategy that sets up the blueprint in terms of integrating ICT for agriculture development. One of the output provided to DAL is the development of the website. Another area under the strategy is the actionable advisory services. We cannot deny the impact of climate change on the agriculture sector. 2015/2016 El Nino in-duced drought had very severe impact on the agriculture sector in PNG. If we had precise agro-meteorological and advisory services, we could have done a lot better to deal with the effect of the drought”. He added that “agro-meteorological and advisories are in-

novative sets of tools to contribute to weather infor-mation based on crops and livestock management strate-gies to assist provide information to the communities. Communities that have relied on traditional farming practices are finding that business as usual is no longer applicable and they need to get smarter and this is where we can come in and work globally and as a region by supporting actionable advisory services. National Weath-er Service is a key stakeholder in this exercise”. The workshop was held on May 22-24.



From left to right; Gerard Silvester, Knowledge & Information Management Officer - FAO Asia/Pacific Regional Office (Bangkok); Mr Ken Shimizu - Head of FAO PNG Office; Mr Samuel Maiha, Director - NWS; Mr Stephen Mombi, Deputy Secretary - Agriculture Development Division (DAL) and Mr John Arumba, Deputy Secretary - Department of Mineral Policy and Geo-Hazard Management and RIMES Focal Point.

Seed distribution to earthquake affected people

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in an agriculture recovery scoping mis-sion to parts of the Nipa Kutubu District, distributed lo-cal open pollinated corn, cucumber and pumpkin seeds to a target beneficiary of 806 people at the Urila village. Thanks to the National Department of Agriculture and Livestock’s field office who technically provided these seeds. The objective of the mission to was to give seeds

to those who have abandoned their gardens to help (NDAL) them restore food production. Additionally, the Food Security Cluster Partners Exxon Mobil PNG, Care International in PNG and ADRA received seeds from the same NDAL seed batch and will distribute to their af-fected households in the earthquake affected communi-ties in Kutubu, Huiya, Dodomona, Walagu of SHP, Western and Hela along with other agriculture recovery household gardening items.

…continued from pg. 7... sector, the energy sector, ma-rine sector, the fisheries, the forestry and the tourism sector. These sectors have been resilient on their own. The best now is to have climate informed agriculture sector, climate informed energy sector, climate informed water sector, climate informed marine sector, climate informed fisheries sector, climate informed forestry sec-tor and climate informed tourism sector. Gone are the days of providing rainfall data and weather forecast. To-day is about partnering with the agriculture sector to pro-

Earthquake affected communities receiving seedlings for planting.



Mr Ken Shimizu, Head of FAO Country Office

making an official state-ment on the role and importance of e-agriculture during the

Agro-Meteorological Advisory Services train-ing held in Port Mores-

by from 22-24 May, 2018

Agriculture is heavily reliant on weather. With vagaries of climate change, we notice that weather patterns are un-dergoing drastic changes, Growing uncertainties of weather and climate pose a major threat to food

security of Papua New Guinea and the need to provide actionable advisories agriculture reliant-communities to manage agricultural risk is key to sustaining livelihoods.

Rural communities have relied on traditional knowledge to plan their cropping cycle, as well as decid-ing on the time of harvesting. However, we see that this is not feasible or efficient in the current milieu. This is where agromet advisories are of great importance.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in partnership with the Department of Agricul-ture and Livestock (DAL), the National Weather Service (NSW) and the Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) conducted a Training on Agro-Meteorological Advisory Services for Papua New Guin-ea at the NSW from 22-24 May 2018.

This training was attended by over 20 participants from various organizations – Department of Agriculture and Livestock, National Weather Service, Coffee Indus-try Corporation, Fresh Produce development Agency, Cocoa Board, Oil Palm Research Institute, National Ag-riculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority, National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Kokonas In-dastri Koporesen, National Forest Authority, National

Fisheries Authority, Provincial DAL Jiwaka and Provin-cial DAL East Sepik.

Agro-meteorological service and advisories are an innovative set to contribute to weather information based crop/livestock management strategies and operations dedicated to enhancing crop production by providing real time crop and location specific agromet services with outreach to rural communities.

FAO is keen in delivering this critical capacity devel-opment need for PNG through this partnership. FAO assistance in the country focuses on agriculture and live-stock, fisheries, forestry, conservation and rural develop-ment; as shaped by the 2018-22 Country Programme Framework.

This training is strategic in line with one of FAO’s priorities - strengthened resilience for food security and nutrition – through the use of relevant tools and proto-cols, and enhancing actionable information readily avail-able to the rural farmers.

This learning opportunity will be crucial for PNG to better equip institutions and the Government in their pre-paredness for prevailing natural disasters resulting from the country’s global positioning. The training workshop is part of the PNG E-agriculture project, a collaboration between FAO, International Telecommunication Union, NICTA, DAL and other stakeholders in the agriculture, natural resource and ICT sectors.

Through this partnership, FAO is supporting the Gov-ernment of PNG to integrate the use of ICT in its agricul-tural development plans and strategies. In this context FAO has supported the Government in preparing its Na-tional E-agriculture Strategy, and is planning to pilot the priority ICT solutions identified under the Strategy in selected pilot provinces.

Agromet information and alert systems are among the prioritized e-solutions identified for PNG under the PNG E-agriculture Strategy.

The other major output is the development of DAL Website (www.agriculture.org.pg), which will be launched soon.

The two pilot provinces were represented at the train-ing program; from East Sepik and Jiwaka.

Mr Ken Shimizu, Head of FAO Country Office making an offi-cial statement

Photographs taken from the internet

http://www.agriculture.org.pg



PPAP coffee engages women in bee keeping

The World Bank and International Fund for Ag-ricultural Development (IFAD) funded coffee re-habilitation project contin-ue to empower women in rural areas of the country.

A private sector firm Agro Dev Trade Ltd (ADDL) operating as lead partner in this coffee pro-ject has come up with a brilliant initiative to in-volve mothers of Kinjipi Women Community De-velopment Club of Rom-banga Parandaka Tribe in the Dei Council District,

Jiwaka Province to deliver its bee keeping activity.

It was an exciting moment for the mothers who gath-ered at the village’s small arena on Tuesday 22 May to receive the lead partner Jacob Taru of ADTL and the project team headed by manager Potaisa Hombunaka to welcome this initiative.

“A door has opened for us the mothers. This is the first for such a help to come to the mothers in this com-munity,” said Mrs Serah in Tok Pisin.

She added the K15 per drum they earn from selling coffee cherries is insufficient to buy necessities for the house.

Members of the women’s group are from five clans making up the Parandaka Tribe. They are open for mem-bership. An interim club executive is made up of two representatives from each clans. The club will be a mem-ber of Kinjipi Women’s Association made up of 10 council wards.

The Parandaka Womens group will pilot this project which will later cover the Eastern Dei District.

The lead partner has a budget to employ an extension officer for honey development including funds for all equipment to set up the honey project.

“We have a separate budget for gender and household resilient training program as well. All in all this women’s program we see as critical for sustainability of coffee production has a budget of K100,000.”

“We thank God that this provision financed by World Bank, IFAD and PNG Government,” said Mr Taru.

Mr Taru added that they will train women in coffee husbandry to join their husbands in the coffee rehabilita-tion exercise.

“We will surprise the men folk. Our first training will be facilitated by the women’s club. We will conduct the training from Eastern Dei Coffee Field Workers starting this week.”

“All the Field workers and our 'Master Farmer Train-ers' will come with their wife. This will be history in the making.”

“On my student trip to India I saw families leaving on Harihana Agriculture University getting training on campus. We will do it our way here,” added Mr Taru.

The coffee rehabilitation is a PNG Government (Coffee Industry Corporation through Department of Agriculture and Livestock) initiative supported by World Bank and IFAD through loan financing.

Project Manager Potaisa Hombunaka praised Mr Ta-ru for the initiative.

“This is a brilliant initiative for the lead partner to involve women take charge of the bee keeping program under this project.

“Honey will provide additional income for the moth-ers which will benefit everyone in the house.”

Mr Hombunaka added that the bees contribute to ef-fective pollination of coffee flowers plus other food crops and horticultural crops/fruits hence increase up to 30 % can be achieved. This was the rational to include bee keeping as an activity in the coffee rehabilitation project plus extra income during non-coffee season.

Agro Dev Trade Ltd is serving 605 households cov-ering 330 hectares of blocks under the old plantation management system.

“There are 62 coffee Blocks and Plantations (about 2,000ha) in Dei District. There is no coffee processing factories in operation now. All plantations are run-down and not operating. We are the only private coffee exten-sion service provided in Dei District,” said Mr Taru.

“We have had several coffee plantations owners re-ferred to us by government agencies in Waigani. We do not have the funds. The CIC-PPAP program only targets 5ha smallholder household families.”

“We have 605 Households covering 330ha. We are however reaching out to the greater community using of community group extension approach.”

Over 100 mothers and young women gathered at Rombanga Village to welcome this initiative.

The gathering was different for many others in the area. This time mothers took the lead in the organising, speeches and they enjoyed every moment of it.

A young mother took the opportunity to say thank you to the wife of the lead partner.

“Before every successful man there is a woman. I want to acknowledge Mrs Miriam Taru for being a good wife and mother for standing behind the lead partner to bring this service to us.”Also present at the gathering was Director of Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority Julie Bengi.

“I have organized the women here. We have training and sleeping facilities and any training the project wants to bring here we’re ready.”

Empowering of women in rural areas is an important part or component of the coffee improvement work un-dertaken in 10 coffee growing provinces.

Ms Serah is all smiles at the gathering.



The Department of Agriculture and Livestock has identified two sites outside Port Moresby that will be prepared for official visits during the APEC Leader’s Summit in November.

The sites are a rice demonstration farm at the Pacific Adventist University and a vegetable and mushroom farm at 15 Mile on the Sogeri Road.

The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan, has directed his department to commence preparations so that the two sites can be ready to cater for official visits during the Leader’s Summit.

Minister Allan is hoping that the President of the Philippines can visit the rice farm and the Chinese Presi-dent to inspect the vegetable and mushroom farm.

He has advised DAL officers to work closely with the PAU and the Green Eden Farm company to prepare the locations for the APEC visits.

Minister Allan said he wants PNG to showcase its agricultural projects and it would be an opportunity for leaders from the two Asian economies to visit and in-spect the farms during November

DAL prepares sites for APEC Leader’s Summit

He said that PNG leaders in recent months have ei-ther visited China and the Philippines or discussed possi-ble technical cooperation on rice production and mush-room as well as other food security programs. There have been discussions and initial agreements signed and the APEC Summit provides an ideal opportunity for the Asian leaders to see what PNG has to offer.

Hon. Benny Allan said that PNG imports a lot of rice and spends about K600 million when that can be re-duced. Investors from overseas are willing to come to PNG and assist in growing rice and to sell the surplus to their own countries. Philippines and China are some of the countries prepared to invest in the local rice industry.

DAL technical landuse officer Mr Wamu Iange, measuring water melons at the Eden Green Farm, one of the two potential APEC sites.

Papua New Guinea agriculture is a climate-smart, inter-

nationally competitive, business-oriented powerhouse

translating our vast untapped agriculture potential to

provide food security, sustainable rural development,

prosperity for our people and economic independence

for our Nation.

Take an active role in transforming the agriculture sec-

tor, provide sound professional and innovative policy

advice, high quality and effective technical and adminis-

trative support to inspire and empower optimal perfor-

mance of all key stakeholders and our clients.

D E PAR T ME N T O F AG R I CU LT UR E A ND L I V ES T O C K

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18

Friend to all, enemy to none- Late David Pone

Late David Obla Pone was the official driver for the Deputy Secretary for Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Mr Francis Daink. His funeral service was held at his family home at Siraka in Gerehu, stage 6 in the city’s Port Moresby North-west Electorate.

A friend to all and enemy to none, was how Mr Daink, who is now Acting Secretary, described late David at the funeral. DAL Christian Fellowship group conducted the Funeral Service.

Mr Daink, on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Benny Allan, the outgoing Secre-tary, Dr Vele Pat Ila’ava, the senior management, staff conveyed their heartfelt condolences to the family and children; Janet, Patrick, David (Jr), and Ruth of the late, David who passed away on the 12th June, 2018, aged 60 due to illness.

Mr Daink said: “If I have to remember him by, he was a ‘Friend-to-all, Enemy-to-none’ and would prefer to crack a joke before engaging in serious business he was asked to do.”

Late David, originally from Mendi, Southern High-lands Province, served the department for over 32 years. In the past several years, he was the driver for Mr Daink and top management division. Late David was a policeman for 13 years before joining DAL.

Pone initially commenced in 1986 as a driver for the Land Use Section of the Department. While a Driv-er, he also assisted with Land Use Survey as part of the Land Use Team engaged in undertaking soils/Land Resources Survey throughout many parts of PNG.

The late David Obla Pone was born in Mendi 1st July, 1958. He was the eldest of two siblings including, himself and his only sister. He was adopted at the age of eight by a Central Province family in Mendi and was brought to Port Moresby. Late David grew up in Han-uabada village in the home of the adopted family and was regarded as the eldest brother to the siblings of the family.

Late Pone’s first employment was with PNG Con-stabulary in 1973. In the same year he got married to Rani Mare. They had three children and also adopted two children. Besides being a Policeman he was also a rugby player and a Taekwando athlete. Some years later he became an active member of the AOG church. He was a Deacon and a pioneer of Magaliwai church. At that time he was already employed by DAL.

Unfortunately, in 2011, Mr and Mrs Pone lost their second child, late Solomon Pone after a long illness. Within the same year he remarried and left to be with his second wife. He is now survived by his four chil-dren and 21 grandchildren.

Mr. Francis Daink, Acting Secretary DAL, giving Late David Pone’s Eulogy during the funeral service at the family Residence at Gerehu, stage six (6).

Documents

New DAL Acting Secretary...4 AGRICULTURE NIUS VOLUME 39, ISSUE 3, MAY/JUNE 2018 An Agriculture and Fisheries Food Show (AFF) will be staged during the APEC Food Security Week (FSW),