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Papua New Guinea
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INVESTING IN THE FUTURE Plantation owner David Oromarie is teaching his neighbors new techniques for producing coffee
How many people would be willing to dig irrigation canals and weed plantations—without pay?
People who are willing to invest in their future, that’s who. Each day, 30 men and women from the community surrounding a 39-hectare coffee plantation in the Daulo District in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) do exactly that. The plantation is about 30 minutes away over rugged roads from Goroka, which is famous for its organic coffee.
When their own rituals of work are done, they walk up the mountain to meet David Oromarie, who is teaching them new, more efficient techniques for producing coffee.
Mr. Oromarie is one of the service providers who has been contracted to help farmers in the Eastern Highlands and Morobe provinces increase their productivity and income under the $7.6 million Smallholder Support Services Pilot Project funded by ADB.
The project is expanding and refining an innovative scheme in contracting out agriculture support services in two of the country’s most populous provinces in light of rising demand for food from a growing population and increasing exports.
It is shifting the role of government agriculture agencies from providing services to managing service providers. A support services contract facility is also being established and agricultural staff are being trained, from the local to national levels, on this new scheme.
About a year ago, 50 coffee growers were organized to form Sihireni Coffee Ltd. The group now owns 43,974 coffee trees or 100–500 trees per person. A tree can produce about 5 kilos of coffee beans per year, earning 20 kina ($6).
“We are part of this company. We belong here, and we want to see the plantation take off,” says one of the workers.
"We want more access to services"
- Jim Takis, farmer
“They have a feeling that they are part of a team. They want to see the project succeed, so they are pleased to give their services,” says Ipa Seke, Principal Project Officer for the Division of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) in Daulo District. Abandoned by its previous owners because of labor problems, Mr. Oromarie bought the plantation for 30,000 kina ($8,824). He gave up his job to organize the group of Sihireni coffee growers.
“I have a personal interest in using my knowledge to help my community and improve the standard of living,” he says. “I have a feeling for my people.”
Mr. Oromarie, 36, is confident that the growers can produce 40 tons of premium coffee annually. Saying the coffee business is in his fingertips, he cites his experience: operations manager in the Bilate Coffee Estates for 3 years and training by the Coffee Industry Co. in culture and marketing.
Mr. Oromarie believes that 10 years from now his community will live more comfortably through hard work and commitment. “I believe in the equal distribution of services and opportunities. In my heart, I know that these are blessings,” he says.
In the village of Kabiufa in the Eastern Highlands, 40 vegetable farmers exude the same enthusiasm as the Sihireni coffee growers. Service provider Jack Atopare, who is from Kabiufa, is responsible for the heightened interest in harvesting more cabbage, asparagus, broccoli, and other vegetables.
“I’m happy to share my skills,” says Mr. Atopare as he shows the community’s greenhouse, seedling nursery, composting area, and vegetable demonstration garden.
It has been observed that the producer groups prefer service providers—like Mr. Oromarie and Mr. Atopare who come from their own villages—over DAL staff. DAL acknowledges the value of service providers to reach out to farmers. These specialists can either be an individual or a group, such as a nongovernment organization or farmers’ group.
“Before, DAL officers merely sat behind desks and assumed the problems of farmers,” according to Repy Mopafi, DAL Principal Project Officer in Goroka District. Now, DAL officers help the community members identify their needs, and supervise and monitor the work of service providers.
Through a participatory rural appraisal and planning exercise, community members decide which agriculture projects they will pursue. Because most of the farmers are illiterate, visual aids—such as crude drawings of farm tools and inputs—are used in producing an action plan. A competent service provider is then engaged.
With the guidance of Mr. Atopare, the Kabiufa vegetable growers have increased their productivity by 70%, with each farmer earning about 35–60 kina ($10–18) a cropping season growing strawberries, cabbage, and broccoli. More income means more money to buy seeds and fertilizer, and the basics such as clothes—instead of grass skirts. Children can go to school, and they can build permanent housing.
Although the village is self-contained, it is far from being without basic needs, such as drinking water and electricity. “We want more access to services,” says Jim Takis, a mother of three. Without access to water and electricity, the community members cannot add value to their produce by getting into the food processing industry.
But there are other issues that need to be addressed aside from the lack of water and electricity. Amarnath Hinduja, Senior Project Specialist, ADB Pacific Department, urges both coffee and vegetable growers to take advantage of the Project and try to look into ways to market their products.
“There must be a system to sustain the benefits from the Project when it has ended or when the service providers are no longer around. Using the knowledge gained, the level of production must go beyond subsistence needs. A system to market this excess must be introduced,” Mr. Hinduja stresses. Among the proposals is to form a cooperative and contract a group to market the products, enabling farmers to have more time to work on their farms.
Angela Soso, a nongovernment organization representative to the Steering Committee of the Support Service Contract Facility (SSCF), says that a marketing system would primarily benefit women. Establishing a marketing system would certainly benefit the women farmer-vendors who sit under the sun all day at the Goroka Market. She adds that raising farm income from vegetables would lure farmers away from cultivating a more lucrative crop: marijuana.
John Hunt, SSCF Project Advisor for Eastern Highlands, expresses satisfaction that the communities are showing signs of progress. People would generally work, he says, only if there is a compelling need for money, such as education. He recalls a survey of PNG males who said it was a “shame” to use the money from chili production for education and would rather use the money to buy betel nut.
In contrast, those who have benefited from the Project are looking at long-term needs. He cites simple yet significant gains, such as when a group decided to save some money to buy cloth on which to dry the chili.
So far, the Project has been able to reach 35,000 individuals through contracting out agricultural support services, providing them with a better lease on life.
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