Our hope from the beginning was to develop the plantation which would also assist the local community in terms of employment.

However, from day one we had nothing but trouble from the nearby village.

We went there with police from Madang to explain we were the new owners, however this fell on deaf ears.

According to one of the clans, the government lease was not recognised.

From the beginning, the villagers were continually stealing cacao, coconuts and other crops from the land, but we decided not to do much to stop them.

But this behaviour later escalated with assaults of my employees, attempted arson and theft from the plantation house. These incidents became almost daily events.

However, the violence became much worse about two months ago when there was an attempt on the life of our caretaker.

He immediately fled to Madang and by the time we came to inspect the place, the destruction was beyond words.

The house had been totally stripped to its concrete base.

I reported these crimes to the Talledig police station but I was told that nothing much could be done as there had obviously been widespread theft by the entire local community, otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible for the destruction to have occurred so quickly.

At another level of contemplation, this led me to question how the PNG government expects there to be investment in the agricultural sector when there are people who are able to work outside the law to prevent or inhibit this form of development.

Now I have heard on good authority that a group called Katim Nek [Throat Cutters] has been established along the north coast to prevent investment of any kind.

When this sort of behaviour occurs it’s hard not to think of the Australia-Papua New Guinea ministerial forum in February this year observing….

“PNG's renewed focus on agriculture as a key part of its development strategy, and agreement by leaders to deepen cooperation in this sector, including ways to build on Australia's significant investments across infrastructure, development of key commodities, and biosecurity.

“Ministers recognised the important role of trade in agricultural commodities in supporting livelihoods and contributing to food security. Ministers for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries met in the sidelines of the Ministerial Forum to advance these objectives.”

Meanwhile, I am still looking for justice but I'm unsure if and when this might happen.