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There is money in farming

A man and his young son standing in a garden.
Erick and his son in their garden.

Leaving formal employment to become a farmer was not an easy decision to make, especially for someone with a young family support, but Isirel Erick says that it was something he had always wanted to do.

Erick, from Kokoda in the Oro Province and Matupit, East New Britain, said that after attending Human Resource Training at ITI College in Port Moresby and searching for jobs in the city he went back to Kokopo where he landed a job at a local ICT company.

Erick says he always wanted to do farming but did not have the skills and training needed. He planted pakchoi and aibika simply for the love of gardening and made his first big harvest in 2017, which he then donated to his church other contacts.

When Fresh Produce Development Agency Kokopo office took him in under the Village Extension Worker (VEW) program in 2018, Erick admits that this was the moment he was waiting for.

“After attending the FPDA’s VEW program, I made three major harvests of pakchoi and sold at the Kokopo main market. After that induction, I learnt a lot and I am always looking forward to learning new things,” he said.

“Gardening is a business. When I see my crops maturing, I am already seeing money,” Erick said of his vegetable farm in East New Britain Province.

After the recent heavy rains, he almost gave up on the farm but following advice from FPDA’s Senior Extension Advisor Elizabeth Melchior, Erick started planting peanut while waiting for the wet weather to subside.

This has worked perfectly for Erick and he was inspired to share his story when Fresh Produce News visited his farm recently.

“During the last induction a few weeks back, I was paid a K200 allowance by FPDA. I wanted to trial Bulb Onion and carrot so I used that money to buy seedlings. This year will be my first time to trial bulb onion,” he proudly said.

Erick is a determined young man with dreams for the future. He plans to expand his farm, knowing that his crops will deliver results for him and his family.

“I tell my boys who come and help me in my farm that this is how things happen. I am not going to waste any time and at the same time I am my own boss. Because I don’t waste time, I know I will get what I want through hard work,” he said.

Erick said he was very grateful that FPDA has assisted him with farm skills, seedlings, chemicals, training and knowledge he will treasure in his career as a modern farmer.

Elizabeth said Erick was always cheerful and shows a lot of interest in his work and he was a fine example for young educated farmers who switch from paid jobs to farming as a career.

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High demand for nilnil juice in Kokopo

Mr Valiling (2nd from right) with family members and FPDA Kokopo staff displaying his pineapple harvest.

When the Bougainville Copper Mine closed in 1989, Augustine Vailing left his welding apprentice job and return home to Ulagunan Village just outside of Kokopo, East New Britain.

He then spent 30 years working in PNG and the Solomon Islands, running his own welding shop, and working for PNG Water Board among other jobs, before finally working at the Lihir Islands gold mine.

On his holiday breaks from Lihir, Augustine would collect pineapple suckers growing wild in the bushes and plant them in the family garden.

“I used to encourage my family members to grow pineapple. It was not a common crop in Kokopo at the time but I knew there would be market for it someday,” he said.

At that time, pineapple was not grown on a large scale in East New Britain and most people were only familiar with copra and cocoa blocks.

“My family members didn’t know why I was doing this but just complied as instructed,” he said.

Augustine planted pineapple from 2007 to 2017 and his wife Rosina sold them at the main market in Kokopo. Over time she saw it doing wonders for her family and because pineapple cultivation is non-seasonal, Rosina was able to harvest and sell every week.

“I saw heaps of vegetables supplied to mines where I used to work and was thinking to myself that I could do this if I had a farm.”

By 2016, Augustine said his former employer Lihir Mining Company, through their catering services, began buying direct from his farm.

“Previously they would buy our pineapple from the main Kokopo market but when they learnt that we were a major supplier at the market, they came directly to the farm,” he said.

Self-taught pineapple farmer

Despite having little knowledge about farming, Augustine made a name for himself as a self-taught pineapple farmer and now supplies his produce to major buyers in the NGI region.

“We have been supplying Andersons since 2016 and while others do copra and cocoa, we do pineapple. To me it’s like free money because when growing pineapple, there is less labor compared to copra which has a lot of work involved,” he said.

The Valilings now supply in bulk to Lihir Mine and Andersons Supermarkets on a weekly basis, selling at K4 per kilo on average and earning a reasonable income for their family.

Staff at Anderson’s supermarket Kokopo preparing Mr Valiling’s pineapple for the shelves.

Augustine has now retired and is farming full time with his wife Rosina and their five children, some of whom are in school funded by their pineapple business.

He also has a truck named Nil-Nil Juice, which does pineapple runs to Kokopo in the morning and PMV runs afterwards.

Augustine is also widely known in Kokopo as the “Nil Nil Man” for his passion and consistency in growing and supplying pineapple to East New Britain over the past 10 years.

“After spending most of my life in the mines, I have now gone back to the land which has kept me and my family going for the past decade,” Augustine says.

FPDA support

After attending training provided by the FPDA branch in Kokopo, Augustine has expanded his farm to new locations covering well over 20,000 plants. He is also supplying seedlings to others who have land and have shown interest in the crop.

“If you want to mean business with pineapple, you have to grow up to 20,000 plants so you are able to constantly supply the market,” he said.

When FPDA officers visited the farm, they discovered that although Augustine was supplying pineapples in bulk to major buyers, he did not have a registered business to easily enable his business transactions.

The Valilings were assured that FPDA would assist them with skills training in bookkeeping and e-commerce, and help them register a business name.

This would help them manage their income, and also open doors for the family to seek assistance from the government, banks and other sources for expansion.

FPDA has so far assisted the Vailings with chemicals, knapsack spray pumps and skills training.

FPDA also provides market sourcing, farm management, and value chain and advisory support to farmers across the country.

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ENB model farms

The East New Britain Provincial Government is committed to assisting local farmers to venture into integrated skilled farming by investing in skills and financial training through the model farm concept.

Model farm concept

The model farm concept, under ENB Fresh Produce Ltd, a subsidiary company of the ENB Provincial Market Authority (ENBPMA), is the first of its kind in the country.

It aims to develop farmers and help them become self-sustainable by growing vegetables and raising animals for market, and for domestic consumption.

ENB Market Authority Resource Officer Gitala Pranis is working with ENB Fresh Produce Officer Mio Kila to ensure the successful operation of the model farm.

Working in partnership with other agencies like FPDA, and Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), Mr. Pranis said it was a win-win situation for all agriculture development partners in the province.

Integrated farming

A model farm has been set up at Ramale village outside Kokopo to allow interested farmers to learn more about modern integrated farming.

“We are trying to do integrated farming and move away from the usual concepts and procedures of farming. As agriculture educators and promoters, we have not done enough to help our rural population to be self-sustaining, moving away from some traditional farming methods,” he said.

Mr. Pranis said many agriculturalists quickly tend to become consultants with papers and there was no actual work on the ground resulting in 80 per cent of the rural population missing out on basic agriculture knowledge.

“Our educated agriculture graduates are chasing after money and their knowledge is going to waste,” he said.

The ENB Market Authority is now working with the rural community to promote agriculture that is simple and adaptable to the people, he said.

The Ramele Model Farm contains fish ponds, ducks, chicken, pigs, and goats. In addition, crops such as round cabbage, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, pakchoi, bulb onion, and rice are all being trialed at the farm.

The model farm is also collecting organic waste from the Kokopo main markets and bringing them to Ramale model farm to feed animals as well as provide manure for the soil. This rubbish recycling process is done to assist other farmers who require manure for their farms.

Model farm taking shape

The model farm is yet to be officially opened and has been taking shape with casual workers under the supervision of agriculturalist Mio Kila who manages the fresh produce section.

Kila said it has been a tough journey for his boys, clearing the forest and planting different crops but the farm was now being prepared for the opening later this year.

Kila said the model farm was in the process of getting bulb onion seedlings to plant for the first time in order to educate and assist interested farmers to grow the crop.

The ENB Market Authority also orders seeds directly from New Zealand based seed company Terranova, in order to assist farmers who need seedlings for their farms.

FPDA Kokopo office has been working in partnership with the ENB Market authority since its inception.

** ENB Provincial Market Authority Facebook page

** Department of Agriculture and Livestock website

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Farmer plans to build cooler facility

Farmer pointing to a plot of land in his farm.
William Lane beside his farm at Gelegele outside Kokopo, East New Britain Province

Farming is not only about growing vegetables but also involves setting up markets and other facilities to ensure that farm products reach their destination in good shape.

East New Britain farmer William Lane says he is planning to set up a chiller room where he can store his fresh vegetables before shipping them to markets.

“I am planning to build one myself as I have been involved in building cool rooms at my work place and it’s not that complicated,” he said.

Mr. Lane works at the Gobe Oil Fields in the Southern Highlands and goes home on breaks to attend to his vegetable farm at Gelegele outside Kokopo.

He told Fresh Produce News that his desire was to set up a chiller facility to store vegetables in Kokopo before distributing them to markets.

Mr. Lane is married to Mary Lane from Milne Bay. They decided to go into farming in 2012 but, as he recalls, it was an interest they had both held since 1994.

After various attempts to seek farming advice from several organisations, the Lane’s ended up at FPDA where OIC Kokopo Elizabeth Melchior took them on board.

“It was in 2012 when we started our vegetable farm, deciding not to plant traditional crops such as cocoa, copra and betel nuts,” Mr. Lane said.

Mary Lane does all the negotiating and marketing while her husband is away at work and says she was privileged to see the success of different types of vegetables now growing well in East Britain.

“We have been growing carrots, capsicum, bulb onion, round cabbage, lettuce, kaukau and aibika and supplying to Bougainville, Lihir and local markets in East New Britain,” she proudly said.

“Some of these crops had never been grown here before but when FPDA introduced them, they performed beyond expectations,” she said.

The Lane’s are now venturing into bulb onion cultivation. They have already built a new nursery and were also starting to plant pineapple, pawpaw, and other crops as they have land available.

Their farm also serves as a model farm where other smaller farmers go to seek advice and develop their own farms in the area.

Mr. Lane said some crops like pineapple should be processed locally so that farmers can supply the processing plants and also be part of the whole processing industry.

He added that the government should encourage juice and other processing plants within the country so that locals can participate in those businesses.

“Once I retire from my paid job, I plan to set up my chiller and concentrate on supplying my produce to markets in Buka, Lihir, East New Britain and other parts of the country,” he said.