Thursday April 28th 2021
At “Esso Mountain”, a community living in the high hills of 9-Mile outside Lae, a cocoa revolution spearheaded by women is taking place.
The 100-plus women, who are all members of the Awilunga Mama Agric Project, have taken to growing cocoa like ducks to water.
It’s an amazing story about how these women, with the help of PNG Cocoa Board and local cocoa exporters, have been able to transform their lives.
Local Yalu landlords have generously allowed them use of land around Esso Mountain to grow cocoa.
The cocoa they grow is then harvested, fermented, dried and sold to exporters.
The Marape Government’s Cocoa Price Support Programme – in which the women are paid K3 per kg of wet bean instead of the normal K1.40 per kg – is a bonanza for them.
There is a high cash flow in this community, with the women able to buy food for their families and send their children to school every day.
Cooperative treasurer, Margaret Bana, says the group started in 2016 when the women looked at ways of using the large piece of land around Esso Mountain.
“In the past, we used to grow food around here, and take it down to 9-Mile to sell,” she recalls.
“We would spend all day at the market, however, on some days people did not buy our food.
“So, all we mothers got together and decided that we must make use of the land around here to make money, so we decided on growing cocoa.”
One of the women, Taga Tipeo, provided the initial funding to buy polybags and set up a nursery to start the business.
Mrs Tipeo says things have changed so much since those humble beginnings.
“I don’t know how many tonnes we have produced already,” she says.
“You can see for yourselves this community and the women.
“The days when the women used to carry garden food down the mountain to sell at 9-Mile Market are over.
“Now, every week, they are seeing K200-K300 from their cocoa, as compared to the past when they were only making K10 a day from the market.
The PNG Cocoa Board provided seedlings to them women: 10,000 first, 5000 second and then 10,000.
Yala landlord, Nathan Sakaling, gave the green lights to them women to use his land to grow cocoa.
“We now have about 25,000 cocoa trees we have grown,” Mrs Bana says.
“The trees are now about five years old.”
Real business, however, only started last year for the women of Esso Mountain.
“We used to sell out cocoa to outside buyers and fermentaries,” Mrs Bana says.
“So, we started raising funds to buy out own fermentary.
“We raised close to K7000 from a nightclub dance, and AgMark gave us a discount on materials.”
OutSpan helped the women to buy additional material for their fermentary.
In March 2020, after the fermentary was set up, the women of Esso Mountain were able to sell cocoa to their own cooperative.
“Our first two bags were sold to OutSpan, and with the money we earned, we were able to buy more cocoa from our women,” Mrs Bana says.
“Our prices ranged from K1.20 to K1.40 per kg of wet bean.
“However, with the Government’s price support now, we are now able to buy cocoa for K3 per kg.”
The community of Esso Mountain – men, women and children – work together in their cocoa business.
“The price support has brought in so much happiness into the community,” Mrs Bana says.
“Since the price support was introduced, we can see that all cocoa gardens are clean, as mothers work harder.
“We also maintain a high quality of cocoa beans.”
PNG Cocoa Board CEO, Boto Gaupu, says the women of Esso Mountain epitomise the Government’s empowering of women.
“The Government is now focused on empowering women, and this is just one example,” he said.
“Through cocoa, we can empower our womenfolk, who now see cocoa as their employer.
“While public servants may collect their fortnightly pay, these women are also making money, through their cocoa business.”
The women of Esso Mountain is indeed a story for Morobe and Papua New Guinea on how a community can transform itself by growing cocoa.