AGRICULTURE FOR DEVELOPMENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

PNG Agriculture Commercialization & Diversification (PACD) Project

Maximizing Cocoa Value Chains in Morobe Province, PNG

Funding Agencies
The Government of Papua New Guinea (GovtPNG) through the Department of Agriculture & Livestock (DAL) and the Cocoa Board and implementing the PNG Agriculture Commercialization & Diversification (PACD) Cocoa Project, financed by IDA credit 6466PG.
Beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries of PACD Cocoa project are over 5,000 people from the Huon Gulf, Nawaeb and Markham Districts, Morobe, PNG. There are 10 cluster groups, each with 50 households. Besides this, others who are non-PACD farmers will also benefit from the project activities such as trainings.
Target Outcomes
The broad objectives of PACD is to facilitate the development of competitive and diversified agriculture value chains by increasing productivity, and access to markets for farmers and MSME businesses working in the cocoa sector. The project also supports coffee, spices and small livestock.
1. Garden Rehabilitation
We work directly with smallholder farmers and rehabilitated 500 gardens totalling about 250,000 cocoa trees in Morobe. Many of these cocoa gardens were old, and planted in the 1960's, and over-grown and neglected. We also distributed tools and materials like bush/grass knives, files, spades, secateurs, and pruning saws to do pruning and shade control, drainage, replanting of dead trees, etc.
2. Nurseries & Clone Seedlings
We establish nurseries, raised clone seedlings with improved cocoa clones such as B1, B2 and B3, and distributed a total of 250,000 seedlings to farmers. Every farming household received 250 seedlings each. The nurseries also served as field training sites for shed construction, bag filling and lining, seed treatment, planting, budding, rootstock trimming, and management - weeding, pest control, shading, etc .
3. Processing and Cocoa Quality
Maintaining cocoa quality is very critical. This includes both preharvest and postharvest practices, for example, training farmers on best practices in pod breaking, fermentation of beans, and kiln drying, avoid smoke taints that often affect cocoa quality. Under the PACD project, we built 2x combination solar dryers with capacity to dry 1 ton per batch. Also, we identified old cocoa fermentry boxes owned by farmers and assisted in rehabilitation work.
4. Export & Marketing Support
Providing market support for farmers is an important aspect of our work. We do this by mobilizing and training farmers to work together - group marketing. Also, we help to audit and certify organic standards for farms with certification bodies like NASSA, USDA, Fairtrade and 4C. Our company also establishes buying depots in local villages to provide door-step markets for cocoa beans; provide transport and logistics services; and business support to cocoa SME's.