Friday April 30th 2021
PNG Cocoa Board CEO Boto Gaupu predicts a “bumper crop” in Morobe this year on the back of the Marape Government’s Price Support Programme.
He made the bold prediction at Munum Village in the Markham Valley on Monday (April 26th 2021) after launching the price support programme for Morobe.
Morobe’s current cocoa production is 4500 tonnes valued at K30 million, of which K19 million goes directly into the pockets of farmers.
“Despite the COVID-19 last year, production is really on the up,” Mr Gaupu told Lae-based journalists.
“With this Government price support, we are looking at a bumper crop this year.”
Mr Gaupu said the PNG Cocoa Board saw a “bright future” for cocoa in Morobe.
“We foresee brighter prospects for cocoa in Morobe,” he said.
“We have a big land mass and resources, a highly-productive labour force, and Morobe is strategically located in business terms, and in all the support you can get.
“We have maybe the biggest port facility in the Southern Hemisphere here in Lae, we are connected to the Highlands, to Momase and to New Guinea islands.
“To do business in Lae is good because of its strategic location.
“I’m speaking from experience, because doing cocoa business out of Rabaul to East Sepik, to the Southern Region, is so expensive.
“Lae is where you can be able to reach all the corners of PNG.
“That is why I am saying we have a brighter prospect for cocoa, and for that matter any other cash crops, in this province.”