By CYRIL GARE
IT IS a ‘sitting duck’ situation in East Sepik with the invasion of the destructive Asian pest, the Cocoa Pod Borer (CPB) which is already at the farmers’ doorstep with nothing they can do to stop it. During a CPB awareness meeting at Kringring (Yuo) village along the West Coast of Wewak on Wednesday, villagers (cocoa growers) told the visiting East Sepik CPB management unit (ESCPBMU) team that they needed training and the knowledge to withstand the invading pest which has already devastated the East New Britain cocoa industry by some K50 million since it was first discovered in March, 2006. They said even if training was given, as in the recent past where private industry players like NGIP Agmark Ltd, DAL (Division of Agriculture and Livestock) and other line agencies have done so, important so was the need for “right tools” so that growers were able to treat their cocoa blocks efficiently.
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| ESP wary of cocoa pest. |
Learning from the ENBP experience, East Sepik has awakened and has invested an initial K5 million for CPB management activities in the province for 2012. ESCPBMU manager Stephen Mombi said the approach would be different from the 2007-2008 operations where CPB was taken head on – confrontational, setting up check points, application of quarantine, spraying and similar other activities. “But all were of no good as the CPB not only withstood but over took new areas in spread,” Mr. Mombi said. So this time, the approach will be “to learn to live with it (CPB)” with the introduction and application of only three activities: CPB Awareness, Farmer Training (Block Management), and Supply of CPB Resistance Materials (clones). Awareness has begun at the eve of elections 2012 covering Turubu, Yangoru, Wewak islands, Maprik, Drekikir and now West Coast. In April 2012, the first batch comprising 16 cocoa farmers from around East Sepik attended training in CPB management at Tokiala, NGIP Agmark Ltd training facility. Four more batches would be deployed there during the year, according to Mr. Mombi. And already, plans are underway to set up butt wood gardens around selected spots in the province for supply of clones of CPB resistant materials to farmers.
The sister commodity to cocoa is coffee. This is the cash crop which puts money into the pockets of the ordinary Papua New Guineans. The authorities which are responsible for the protection against such pest should be vigilant in their work.
ReplyDeleteLike the writer states the cocoa borer has done much economic damaged to the East New Britian cocoa farmers. The East Sepik province cocoa farmers are doing the best way forward for the pest management proactively.
The coffee farmers are also vulnerable to the pests and diseases.
Coffee Industry Corporation should be always making sure intruders do not medal with the seasonal crop for that matter.