Focus on high, quality yields

By YVONNE KAMBIBEL
THE Government is committed in its focus in improving the agriculture sector in the country, a senior official says.
Acting deputy secretary provincial agriculture, technical services division, Brown Konabe, said the inclusion of four new ministerial portfolios within the sector, showed how serious the government was about the sector.
“The Government aims to make PNG a K200 billion economy by 2027 of which K30 billion is to come from the agriculture sector,” he said.
Konabe said for agriculture to fulfill its role in the plan, there needed to be increased local production of cash and food crops in order to export and earn growers more and boosting local economies.
However, he said the quality of the products being exported would determine the size of the revenue generated from them.
“It’s not just the quality that should be given prominence but also importing countries must have the trust and the confidence that food products being exported are safe for consumption and that same level of trust and confidence must first come from local consumers but at the moment, the National Food and Sanitation Council is dysfunctional.”