Bad roads hinder coffee growth in East Sepik
ROADS, or lack of it, is a major hinderance to the production of Robusta coffee
in the East Sepik Province.
This was revealed by chairman of the East Sepik Coffee Group (ESCG) Titus Auna while taking his group’s coffee to sell in Lae late last year.
He said many coffee farmers are based in the rural areas and due to the bad road conditions in the districts of Maprik, Wosera-Gawi, Ambunti-Drekikir and Nuku, farmers are being discouraged to farm and sell coffee.
Mr Auna said the province has about 46 coffee co-operative groups under the East ESCG which proves the potential to increase production.
He said another factor is the low price of K1.30 to K1.40 for Robusta coffee which has been overcome by the farmers own group marketing notion implemented by Coffee Industry Corporation recently.
“Group marketing enables us to bargain for higher price and the income are distributed directly to the farmers, who tend to receive a higher income compared to individual coffee sales,” said Mr Auna.
He said the farmers are generally happy with the income from group coffee marketing despite the long delay in getting their funds.
“It’s very expensive to get coffee from each district in the province into Wewak and then to Lae,” he said. I urge the government and potential investors to consider setting up a green bean factory in Wewak.”
He thanked Maprik MP Gabriel Kapris for supporting coffee work by allocating K70,000 for the coffee nursery and rehabilitation for his district. Mr Auna said more similar funding into coffee is also need to boost production. The ESCG started in 2006 and has reached an annual export rate of about 3000 bags with assistance from Kundu Coffee Exports.
This was revealed by chairman of the East Sepik Coffee Group (ESCG) Titus Auna while taking his group’s coffee to sell in Lae late last year.
He said many coffee farmers are based in the rural areas and due to the bad road conditions in the districts of Maprik, Wosera-Gawi, Ambunti-Drekikir and Nuku, farmers are being discouraged to farm and sell coffee.
Mr Auna said the province has about 46 coffee co-operative groups under the East ESCG which proves the potential to increase production.
He said another factor is the low price of K1.30 to K1.40 for Robusta coffee which has been overcome by the farmers own group marketing notion implemented by Coffee Industry Corporation recently.
“Group marketing enables us to bargain for higher price and the income are distributed directly to the farmers, who tend to receive a higher income compared to individual coffee sales,” said Mr Auna.
He said the farmers are generally happy with the income from group coffee marketing despite the long delay in getting their funds.
“It’s very expensive to get coffee from each district in the province into Wewak and then to Lae,” he said. I urge the government and potential investors to consider setting up a green bean factory in Wewak.”
He thanked Maprik MP Gabriel Kapris for supporting coffee work by allocating K70,000 for the coffee nursery and rehabilitation for his district. Mr Auna said more similar funding into coffee is also need to boost production. The ESCG started in 2006 and has reached an annual export rate of about 3000 bags with assistance from Kundu Coffee Exports.
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