Coffee, coconut, oil palm go bigtime in PNG
10 April 2023
NEWS DESK
| PNG Business News
PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s agriculture sector has experienced a major upswing in production, says agriculture minister, Aiye Tambua, with coffee, coconut, and oil palm leading the way.
According to the Coffee Industry Corporation, the country exported 840,000 bags of coffee in 2022, up from the previous year's 750,000.
Foreign exchange earnings exceeded K800 million.
The Kokonas Indastri Koporesen reports a growing trend in the export of white copra and copra mill with export revenue increasing to K206 million in 2022 compared with K171 million.
The Oil Palm Industry Corporation has reported a steady increase in the production and export of crude palm oil.
The fresh fruit bunch produced by smallholders has increased from about 770,000 metric tonnes in 2019-2021 to 820,000 metric tonnes in 2022.
Famers’ income grew from K405 million in 2020 to K760 million in 2021 and to almost a billion (K964 million) in 2022.
Minister Tambua noted that, while production of the three main commodities has increased, there are still issues that need to be addressed to meet target production.
He said coffee berry borer is still affecting coffee production, and the government is working to address this.
Additionally, Kokonas Indastri Koporesen has been challenged to produce seeds and seedlings as the demand from local farmers is increasing.
The expansion of oil palm into new provinces has been commended, Tambua said, but the industry needs to assist smallholders with sales since there are no mills available.
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