Partnerships between Government Agencies a way forward in

Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Central Government Office (CGO), Level 2B. Kumul Avenue, WAIGANI.

Partnership between govern. Agencies….. 1,2 Editorial 2 Invest more money in the Agriculture Sector 3 Strengthening partnership between University of Goroka (UOG) and DAL….. 4 Rubber in Manus on the move 5 CARE International supports Community Disaster management training. 6 Agriculture model farms can transform Agriculture sector 7 FAO to assist PNG in playing a bigger role In Pacific Region 8 DAL and FAO workshop discuss project Aimed at promoting women in Agriculture 9 First Pacific Food Security Cluster Forum 10 Sago may not continue to sustain Increasing population along Sepik …... 11 Agritourism policy setting in the Pacific 12 Connectivity to Integrated Government Information system (IGIS) 12

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Ongoing and committed partnerships between government agencies is a way forward to transform the agriculture sector.

This is in the case of initiatives being undertaken to develop idle and unused State land for agriculture development purposes.

The partnership between the Department of Agriculture and Livestock and the Cocoa Board, supported by key agencies such as the Department of Lands and Physical Planning and other stakeholders in utilizing undeveloped land in Ko-kopo, East New Britain Province, for cocoa development is one good example.

In the case of the portion of land, section 39 allotments 41 and 42, about 5 ha at Kenabot, the Acting Secretary of Lands & Physical Planning, Mr. Terry Wanga, gave the approval for the Reservation Right to be relinquished to Cocoa Board from DAL based on the current understanding reached between the two Organization. This was witnessed by Acting CEO of Cocoa Board Dr Arnold Parapi and senior officials of Cocoa Board, and senior officials of DAL.

The Reservation Right was formalised for Cocoa Board, paving the way for the Certificate Authorising Occupancy [CAO] and Land Title to be transferred to Cocoa Board to develop the 5 ha of land for cocoa. A Memorandum of Agree-ment to formalize the arrangement was also signed.

Dr Arnold Parapi and his team were full of praises for Minister for Agriculture

Partnerships between Government Agencies a way forward in developing agriculture sector

2 AGR IC UL TUR E N IUS VO L UME 38, ISSUE 3, MAR C H -AP R IL , 2017

AI & PB Going to great lengths to provide Information

EDITORIAL Welcome readers to this March—April

issue of the Agriculture Nius. We try to

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Agriculture Nius is produced by the Public Relations and Media Unit and the Information and Publications Branch of the Department of Agricul-ture and Livestock (DAL). Managing Editor: Nicks Maniha

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and Livestock, Honourable Tommy Assik Tomscoll for his vision to promote such partnership in terms of securing the future of young generation of farmers in the cocoa sector through such initiatives. Furthermore, the Cocoa Board acknowledged the vision of DAL through the initiative of Secretary, Dr Vele Pat IIa’ava that will pave the way for the idle and unused state land to be used for development purposes. Such initiatives are a positive step forward and establishing effective partnerships in unlocking land for cocoa or any other agri-culture crop development in PNG.

The Cocoa Board, in partnership with DAL, and International de-velopment partners will be involved in the establishment and devel-opment of prescribed land for cocoa development within the frame-work of the National SME Policy. Furthermore, Minister of Lands and Physical Planning, Honourable Benny Allen has also been sup-portive with this undertaking and would like to see such development of cocoa in the region to help assist the farmers.

VO L UME 38, ISSUE 3, MAR C H -AP R IL , 2017 AGRICULTURE NIUS, 3


people in PNG benefitted directly from cocoa and another 1 million depended on cocoa indirectly. PNG is a small producer of cocoa and still has a long way to go and will still compete with other major producers such as Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia.

Minister Tomscoll congratulated the Cocoa Board on its achievements and called for wider sup-port from all stakeholders to encourage cocoa farm-ers, producers and manufacturers, to participate in the cocoa competition and showcase the best PNG cocoa products at international cocoa shows.

Cocoa Board Chairman and Department of Agri-culture and Livestock Secretary, Dr Vele Pat Ila’ava, said cocoa is an important industry that is putting money into the people’s pockets and needed more support to boost the economy. He said devel-opment and strengthening of the cocoa industry will lead to increased opportunities for employment and cash income, improved livelihood, reduce law and order problems.

Morobe Governor Kelly Naru told the dinner guests that cocoa samples from the Lower Watut cooperative from his province were one of the win-ners at the International Cocoa Awards in 2015 held in Paris, France, and issued a challenge to other co-coa growing areas in PNG to do better in the up-coming Cocoa Warwagira in order to be selected to represent PNG.

Cocoa Board Chief Executive Boto Gaupu said the best cocoa samples from all categories at the PNG Cocoa Warwagira will be entered into the In-ternational Cocoa Excellence programme of the Shalon Du Chocolat in Paris, France, to compete for the International Cocoa Award. This programme will be held in October, 2017 and PNG will be rep-resented.

Invest More Money in the Agriculture Sector

A government minister has called for more investment in the agriculture sector saying the future prospect of Papua New Guinea’s grow-ing economy is in agriculture.

More investment is needed in the agricul-ture sector to build a robust and strong econ-omy and to bring in more foreign exchange and reduce the country’s social problems, says the Minister for Agriculture and Live-stock, Tommy Assik Tomscoll.

And Minister Tomscoll says the Govern-ment must seriously address the agriculture sector and not be afraid of investing huge sums of money in developing agriculture, particularly in commodities that earn good foreign exchange for the country such as cocoa.

“Cocoa is an important commodity contributing to the economy. We need to invest more money in the cocoa industry, more investment is needed in co-coa.”

He said more funding should be pumped into the sector and sub sectors including cocoa and coffee, to lift the people out of poverty, create employment and income earning opportunities, reduce law and order problems and reduce urban drift.

Minister Tomscoll was speaking at the launch of PNG’s National Cocoa of Excellence Show “The Cocoa Warwagira” to be held on the 25th to 27th May, 2017, in Kokopo, East New Britain. The Co-coa Board hosted a corporate dinner at the Dynasty restaurant to promote the concept of Cocoa of Ex-cellence, officially inaugurate the Cocoa Warwagi-ra, announce key sponsors, especially the naming rights sponsors, and to raise funds for the event.

Minister Tomscoll said the future of PNG was in the agriculture sector and cocoa is one of the key agricultural commodities to take the country for-ward. Cocoa, he stressed, will continue to grow as the demand for cocoa will increase. Cocoa is also a commodity that brings stability in the cocoa grow-ing families, the industry and the sector, he said.

He reminded the stakeholders in the agriculture sector, including the government, private sector, co-coa industry, farmers, international donor partners, civil society, farmer groups and partners that it was safe to invest in cocoa as it was more beneficial in the long-term.

Tomscoll said that despite many challenges big companies in PNG were investing money in the co-coa industry and they are doing well. He said their efforts in supporting cocoa development must be appreciated by everyone.

He said estimates indicate that around 3 million

The ongoing partnership between the Depart-ment of Agriculture and Livestock [DAL] and the University of Goroka on the proposed rede-velopment of the Menifo sheep farm outside Goroka town has been further strengthened.

The 365 ha land at Menifo, about 20 minute’s drive from Goroka, is expected to be developed to become a fully-fledged Agri-Business Training Fa-cility for Small Medium Enterprises as well as pro-mote and conduct research, innovations, farming enterprises and training purposes.

A Memorandum of Understanding is in place between DAL and UOG since 2012. On March 15, 2017, Acting Secretary of Lands & Physical Plan-ning, Mr. Terry Wanga gave the approval for the Reservation Right to be relinquished to UOG from DAL based on the MOU. This was witnessed by Chancellor of UOG, Mr. Joseph Sukianomb and Senior Officials of DAL and UOG. The Reservation Right will be formalised for UOG on March 23, 2017.

The UOG’s Chancellor, Mr. Joseph Sukianomb and his team were full of praises for Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Honourable Tommy As-sik Tomscoll for his vision to promote such partner-

ship in terms of securing the future of young generation of farmers in the agri-business sector through such initia-tives.

The UOG, in partnership with DAL, Fresh Produce Development Agency [FPDA], Coffee Industry Corporation [CIC] and International Development partners will be involved in the estab-lishment and development of Agri-Business Training for SMEs develop-ment within the framework of the Na-tional SME Policy. Furthermore, School of Science & Technology, School of Business School of Medical Science and School of Tourism will be established at Menifo to raise the pro-file of UOG as a premium university in PNG and the Pacific Region.

Minister of Lands and Physical Planning, Honourable Benny Allen has also been supportive with this under-taking and would like to see Menifo

located in his Ungai-Bena Electorate to cater for the expansion of UOG which in turn will trigger other social and economic developments in the local com-munities.

UOG in partnership with DAL has already estab-lished some facilities for the Agri-Business Training Centre at Menifo, hence the transfer of land title will enable it to focus on developing a fully-fledged Agri-Business School for research, innovations, farming enterprises and training purposes.

The partnership between the two government entities [ Public-Public arrangement] is a way for-ward to address the prevailing funding constraints by UOG and utilizing other facilities in venturing into business ventures with the relevant government agencies, private and international development partners.

The Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology, Honourable Francis Marus also commended this partnership initiative as a stra-tegic direction for UOG to raise additional income to fund its annual operational cost in view of limited budget for all state run universities. Furthermore, DAL and its sectoral agencies will generate its share of revenue to sustain its operational budget.

Strengthening partnership between University of Goroka [UOG] and Department of Agriculture and Livestock [DAL] for Agri-Business program at Menifo, Eastern Highlands Province

Photo : Acting Secretary lands & Physical Planning, Mr. Terry Wanga and his senior officials meeting with Chancellor UOG, Mr. Joseph Sukianomb and his senior officials and Department of Agriculture and Livestock Senior Officials at Conference Room , at Department of Land’s Office, Waigani, on March 15, 2017.




VO L UME 38, ISSUE 3, MAR C H -AP R IL , 2017 AGR IC UL TUR E N IUS, 5

PNG Rubber Board Chairlady Ms Josephine Kenni wants to see a “revolution” in the rubber industry.

Ms Kenni says that the PNG rubber industry has enormous potential and needs to be revitalized and transformed to become a major cash crop.

Ms Kenni said this in Port Moresby during a meeting with a delegation from Manus Province, comprising landowners, provincial administration officials and investors to discuss rubber develop-ment in Manus province, in particular, the Pohowa rubber project.

In welcoming the delegation to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock headquarters, Ms Ken-ni said she wants to see changes in the legislation that will enable positive changes to improve and boost capacity building including training and man-power resources. She said more effort needs to be made to strengthen the technical capacity to enable DAL and relevant government agencies to enhance extension delivery services in rubber-growing areas.

Ms Kenni said she wants to work closely with stake-holders including provincial administrations, private companies and landowners, to revitalize and pro-mote rubber development throughout the country.

“I want to see a rubber revolution in PNG. Rubber is a good crop for PNG farmers. The people must see rubber as a friendly crop they can utilize and benefit from in the longterm.”

“I want to see more planting of rubber trees – we need to plant more rubber trees to bring back the forest that has been depleted through logging activi-ties.”

“I want to do more for rubber. There is potential to develop rubber in Manus and other provinces. We can also work in partnerships to develop existing rubber projects.”

Chairman of the Pohowa Agriculture Ltd, the landowner company involved in the Pohowa rubber project, Mr Bruno Sokou Koki, said due to lack of basic services and income earning opportunities, the Pohowa project was initiated some 40 years ago as an impact agriculture project.

“We have been struggling over the years to seek assistance from the government and to find suitable investors and financiers who can assist the landown-ers in developing the project. We are still striving to get the project off the ground.”

Mr Koki said the project will boost the local economy, provide opportunities for young people, improve livelihood and increase income-earning opportunities.

He said the Manus delegation travelled to Port Moresby to check on the progress in particular the Forest Clearance Authority with the PNG Forest Authority. He said the Environment permit had al-ready been issued and the Incorporated Land Group process was nearing completion. A suitable investor had also been engaged.

The delegation also included the Pohowa Agri-culture Ltd Deputy Chairman, Mr Dickson Kanau, Managing Director, Mr Paul Misu, Provincial Agri-culture Manager, Mr Oma Wamu, National DAL Rubber Coordinator, Mr Posangat Polume, Provin-cial Forest Officer, Mr Bernard Tewi, and member of the Provincial Forest Management Committee, Mr Felix Chanuan and Investor representative, Mr Deodatus Hii.

Rubber in Manus on the move

Top: A group photo of the Manus delegation at DAL headquarters. Ms Kenni is second from right, and Mr Koki, is on far left. In front with them are DAL Deputy Secretary for Policy, Mr Francis Daink (second from left) and Mr Polume (far right)

Below: Ms Kenni (left) in discussions with the delegation.



CARE International was one of the key interna-tional agencies playing an integral and important role in the overall humanitarian response to the 2015-16 El Niño drought event in PNG.

CARE responded by providing assistance to se-verely affected families and communities in the drought affected provinces of Morobe, Eastern Highlands and Simbu, covering a total of 10 dis-tricts. The intervention focused on WASH, kit distri-bution and water system repairs, health, agricultural recovery and resilience and adaptation.

In early 2016, CARE developed a Humanitarian Assistance Training module, in close consultation with the PNG National Disaster Centre (NDC), and Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs, which has been rolled out across provinces, districts and wards in the highlands.

Due to the urgent need for better disaster prepar-edness and response at the community-level and in-terest from participants, CARE has now developed three additional modules. With the support of NDC and DPLGA, CARE now has four training modules that form a comprehensive Community Disaster Management Training package.

Brendan Jinks, Community Disaster Manage-ment Team Leader, and Bennie Atigini, Community Disaster Management Facilitator, updated the recent meeting of the PNG Food Security Cluster that the training package will be piloted in three highlands provinces – Gumini District in Simbu, Henganofi District in Eastern Highlands, and Bulolo in Morobe Province.

Mr Jinks said that a total of 300 provincial and district staff and communities will directly benefit from Community Disaster Management training. However, there will be many more indirect benefi-ciaries as district and ward representatives support their communities.

He said the training will incorporate Ward De-velopment Committees from selected wards to strengthen their ability to effectively prepare for and respond to natural disasters. This will include train-ing in ward level disaster risk assessments, ward level disaster risk reduction action plans, damage assessments, writing and submitting well-informed reports to provincial disaster coordinators and how to manage community expectations and conflict.

CARE International supports community disaster management training

Photographs source: Internet, “CARE PNG EL Nino in Eastern Highlands”—”Images”.


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Agricultural model farms can transform agricul-ture sector

The establishment of Agricultural Model Farms for the fruit and vegetable industry is a way for-ward to transform the agriculture sector.

A female officer with the Department of Agricul-ture and Livestock, Ms Geno Geno, said this after attending a training course in Israel early this year.

Ms Geno, technical officer attached with the Agro-Food Safety and Codex PNG Unit, believes that by setting up and supporting model farms, a lot of agricultural services including extension, train-ing, information dissemination, technical assistance and others, can be provided to rural farmers and the public.

Ms Geno, was among 24 professionals from 17 different countries who attended the training on Pro-moting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Develop-ment: Policies, Planning and Innovations, held in Shefayim, Israel, from 23rd January to 9th February, 2017.

She said PNG can learn more about im-proved/modern agricultural techniques from Israel and should tap into the current arrangements and promote the concept of model farms in rural com-munities.

Improved agricultural technologies, knowledge and skills and new farming innovations will be passed onto farmers through such model farms as well as encourage agro-tourism.

The model farms, can be set up through partner-ships with relevant government agencies such as DAL, provincial administration, agricultural compa-nies, international organizations and many others, said Ms Geno.

“With the innovations adapted, the model farm

will have a great impact on sustainable agriculture and rural development.”

But she emphasized that the key to success is more funding from the Government. The model farm will address many of the issues affecting poor delivery of agricultural services and boost agricul-tural opportunities in the district level, however, ad-equate funding and resources is priority.

“It is time to rethink how we grow, share and consume our food. If done right, agriculture can pro-vide nutritious food for all and generate incomes, supporting rural development whilst protecting the environment.”

Ms Geno also suggested that more young Papua New Guineans (especially young officers of DAL and relevant agencies) should be given the oppor-tunity to be educated and trained in Israel in agricul-ture and rural development. There should also be more exchanges and collaboration and networking with Israel.

Ms Geno thanked the DAL Secretary through the initiative of the Leadership in Agriculture Innova-tion and Transformation (LAIT), the Israel Govern-ment, Israeli Embassy in Canberra, and Innovative Agro Industries for their support in sponsoring her training.

Ms Geno participating in field trips to various sites during her training.



Papua New Guinea is a priority country for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and is expected to play a larger role in providing support to smaller countries, especially in the Pacific region.

Senior Programme Officer, Office of Support to De-centralized Offices, FAO, Mr Dario Gilmozzi, said this last week at a workshop on Strengthening the PNG and FAO Partnership, including the upgrading of FAO Coun-try Office in PNG.

Mr Gilmozzi, based in Rome, Italy, said that PNG is still a Low Income Food Deficit country within the World Bank and FAO categories, and as such, still faces a number of challenges in order to be able to achieve food security for its population.

PNG has clear links to both Asia and the Pacific and is expected to play a role in assisting other small coun-tries. He said PNG is already supporting mangrove resto-ration in Samoa, Tuvalu and Tonga and is engaging on a new programme to support Pacific countries.

At the workshop, Mr Gilmozzi also explained the new FAO Partnership and Liaison Office concept that FAO has developed to suit circumstances like the ones in PNG.

Mr Gilmozzi, who was accompanied to PNG by Ms Xiangjun Yao, FAO Regional Strategic Programmes Co-ordinator for Asia and Pacific, based in Thailand, said the workshop was a demonstration of FAO’s apprecia-tion for PNG and the importance towards the strengthen-ing of FAO’s presence and its partnership programme in the country.

He said FAO established its first permanent presence in Port Moresby in 2013 by appointing an experienced officer, hosted first in the UNDP Office, and subsequent-ly in the Department of Agriculture and Livestock. Since then, the FAO/PNG programme in the country has in-creased substantially from less than US 1 million per

year in 2013 to about US 4 million in 2016.

In mid-2015, the PNG Government requested the es-tablishment of a fully-fledged FAO office in the country. In mid-2016, the FAO Director-General advised that the FAO presence could be elevated to a Partnership and Liaison Office, and this model would suit very well the status of PNG and the increasingly important role that the country was playing in the region.

Mr Gilmozzi said the workshop continued the discus-sions between PNG and FAO on how to further strength-en the ongoing partnership and bring it to the level that the country deserves and that justifies a stronger FAO presence in PNG. He said this will enable the FAO PNG Office to also provide support to other Pacific countries such as Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

Ms Yao made a presentation on the FAO, its Region-al Office for Asia and Pacific, and overview of FAO pro-grammes in the region, and Head of PNG FAO Office, Mr Ken Shimizu, spoke on the programme in PNG and the potential that FAO sees in further expanding it in the near future.

The workshop at the Stanley Hotel was attended by representatives from DAL, National Fisheries Authority, PNG Forestry Authority, Climate Change and Develop-ment Authority and others. A separate session was also held to review the draft Host Country Agreement be-tween FAO and PNG Government, which included skype-conferencing with the FAO Legal Office in Rome.

FAO to assist PNG in playing a bigger role in Pacific Region

Top: Mr. Gilmozzi (left) with Deputy Secretary Policy, Francis

Daink. Top right: Ms. Yao (left) Mr. Shimizu (centre) and a partici-

pant having a discussion. right: Ms. Ruth Turia, PNG Forest Au-

thority making a comment.


AGR IC UL TUR E N IUS 9 VO L UME 38, ISSUE 3, MAR C H -AP R IL , 2017

The first consultation meeting for the Country Gender Assessment of the National Agriculture and Rural Development Sector was held on the 24th of April 2017 at the Stanley Hotel.

The purpose of this meeting was to inform the

concerned government officials and stake-holders on the FAO TCP Country Gender Assessment of Agri-culture Sector Project and also to provide an avenue for sharing in-formation amongst the stakeholders and gov-ernment officials on their activities regard-ing promoting partici-pation of women in agriculture and gender mainstreaming.

The meeting was attended by DAL and FAO staff and representatives from stakeholders that included the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA), Central Provincial DAL, -Women in Agriculture desk, Department of Community Development Gender Section, PPAP, National Fisheries Authority, PNG Forest Authority, Climate Change and Development Authority, NCDC Gender desk and the media.

DAL Deputy Secretary – Policy Planning Divi-sion, Mr. Francis Daink opened the meeting in which he strongly emphasized the need to have the Women In Agriculture Development Unit (WIADU) elevated to a Branch level for effective coordination of the Women in Agriculture activities in the sector.

An overview of WIADU was given, highlighting the issues that women faced globally and the DAL taking the initiative and establishing the WIADU purposely to act as a focal point for women and youth and secondly to address gender and develop-ment issues in the agriculture sector.

The main objectives and the roles and re-sponsibilities of WI-ADU were also high-lighted in the presenta-tion. The current chal-lenges and the con-straints experienced by WIADU were also pre-sented which include, inadequate staff, lack of funding, no transport, and office facilities such as computer.

DAL and FAO workshop discuss project aimed at promoting women in agriculture

Group photo of participants.

Photographs Sourced from internet,

Women in Agriculture.



The first-ever Regional Pacific Food Secu-rity Cluster Forum took place in Nadi, Fiji, from the 26th – 28th April. It was hosted by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organ-ization (FAO)

The three-day forum was held at the Radis-son Blu hotel in Denarau, Nadi, and attended by governments, civil society, NGOs, academic institutions and stakeholders.

The purpose of the forum was to foster learn-ing between representatives of food security clusters and sectoral coordination groups, pro-vide opportunities to showcase the work of country-level clusters, discuss and generate stra-tegic feedback on the work plan and contribu-tions of the Regional Pacific Food Security Cluster. It is also a kick-off event to generate and encourage wider participation from a broad group of stakeholders involved in food security actions, coordination and programming across the Pacific region in regional and country-level coordination efforts. It will also enable and en-courage sectoral coordination and partnerships, dialogue on food security issues, emergency preparedness and response planning, exchange of good practices and lessons learned, and sup-port capacity development of national clusters at the Pacific level.

The PNG delegation was led by Director of Food Security in the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Mr Brown Konabe, PNG Food Security Cluster interim coordinator/FAO tech-nical officer, Ms Mirriam Mondia, Mr Kaigabu Kamnanaya, Assistant Director Risk Manage-

ment, National Disaster Centre, and Mr Soldier Buruka, DAL Public Relations/Media Of-ficer/PNG Food Security Cluster communica-tions focal.

First Pacific Food Security Cluster Forum

(L to R) DAL media officer, Soldier Buruka, DAL Food Security Di-rector, Brown Konabe, National Disaster Centre Assistant Director, Kaigabu Kamnanaya, Care International Community Disaster Man-agement - Team Leader, Brendan Jinks and PNG Food Security Cluster interim coordinator/FAO technical officer, Mirriam Mondia.

Below: PNG officials in a field exercise with Pacific WFP head, Pe-ter French (second from left).

Below left: Group photo of forum participants.

VO L UME 38, ISSUE 3, MAR C H -AP R IL , 2017 AGR IC UL TUR E N IUS, 11


Sago may not continue to sustain increasing popu-lation along Sepik foothills

A study has revealed that production of sago may not continue to sustain the increasing number of people along the Sepik foothills.

The study has predict-ed that over the next 25 or so years, there will be more people living along the Sepik foothills who will not be able to de-pend on upland sago to

meet their carbohydrate requirements.

As the need for food increases sago eaters have started responding by increasing the area under cul-tivation for garden crops and have increased the number of meals that contain root crops and bana-nas.

The study by a research scientist, John Sowei, said there is evidence that there will be an increas-ing number of people living along the Sepik foot-hills that will not depend on sago as a staple food.

“They will increasingly use shifting cultivation to produce their food, which raises separate con-cerns about whether the natural resources of this ar-ea will be able to sustain this intensification of land use.”

Mr Sowei, a PhD scholar, and academic at the School of Natural and Physical Sciences, Discipline

of Environmental Science and Geography, Universi-ty of PNG, in a recent presentation to the Depart-ment of Agriculture and Livestock said that his re-search raised the question of whether sago produc-tion can be increased to meet the food demands of a rapidly growing population.

PNG population has been growing at an average rate of 2.5 percent per annum, and rural people grow 85 percent of the food that they consume, on their own land, using their own labor. Thirty-five percent of rural people in PNG eat sago as their most im-portant food, their staple.

Mr Sowei said the focus of his research project was to study the impact of population growth on upland sago production in hilly country north of the Sepik Valley and to ask the questions, can upland sago production be increased, and if it cannot be, what will be the alternative foods, and will the de-cline in available sago resource force people to change to a root crop staple.

His study, over a 10-year period, was at Rangwe village, in the Nuku district of West Sepik, along the Sepik foothills.

The study argues that sago production cannot be increased in upland areas due to environmental limi-tations. There are limited wetlands along the Sepik foothills and they have been all planted to sago in the past. There are a number of theories that have influenced intensification of village agriculture sys-tems.

John Sowei

John Sowei making his presentation to DAL and NARI officials and later meet-ing with some of them.

Papua New Guinea agriculture is a climate-smart,

internationally competitive, business-oriented

powerhouse translating our vast untapped agricul-

ture potential to provide food security, sustainable

rural development, prosperity for our people and

economic independence for our Nation.

Take an active role in transforming

the agriculture sector, provide sound professional

and innovative policy advice, high quality and ef-

fective technical and administrative support to

inspire and empower optimal performance of all

key stakeholders and our clients.

Agritourism policy setting in the Pacific

To support national campaigns for nutritious and healthy food, Vanuatu is bringing together its minis-tries for agriculture, trade, tourism and health. The country is leading the way in designing the first agritourism policy framework in the Pacific. Tradi-tionally, agriculture (including fisheries), trade, health, environment and tourism policies across Pa-cific island states have been developed in isolation from each other and very few linkages have been identified or pursued. However, as the result of the 1st Pacific Agribusiness Forum in 2015, Vanuatu

was selected to be the first pilot initiative to promote sustainable use of local food through strengthened multi-sectoral policies for agritourism. Championed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Tourism in close collaboration with other ministries, regional and international partners (PIPSO, SPC, CTA and IICA), relevant stakeholders participated in a 2-day workshop in Barbados in late 2015 to meet and learn from Caribbean counterparts where agritour-ism policies are in place. For more information: http://tinyurl.com/ztthtjm

The Department of Agriculture and Livestock will have to be part of the Integrated Govern-ment Information System (IGIS).

This means that the Department will be connect-ed to the IGIS network for communication and in-formation dissemination.

DAL staff having access to the internet will have their email addresses changed to the official DAL email addresses under IGIS network and can no longer use their gmail accounts for official purpos-es.

The Chief Secretary, Amb. Isaac Lupari, in a cir-

Connectivity to Integrated Government Infor-mation System (IGIS)

cular dated 9 January, 2017, said the IGIS network is Government recognized information system across the public sector, hence, all government agencies are directed to cooperate and assist in the smooth implementation process and get connected for better communication and to access vital Gov-ernment information on policy and development is-sues concerning PNG today.

“The rapid growth in information technology and in the general communication industry makes it more relevant for all state agencies to be connected to the IGIS network for communication and infor-mation dissemination.”

D E PAR T ME N T O F AG R I CU LT UR E A ND L I V ES T O C K

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Proverbs 29:18

Documents

Partnerships between Government Agencies a way forward in