Formal employment is not the only way to earn a decent living, a young farmer from Kabwum, Morobe Province has told Fresh Produce News.
After completing technical school, and working for three different companies, Rabuny Lipi decided to quit formal employment and go into farming.
Becoming a farmer
“After quitting my last formal job with Dunlop (PNG), I knew nothing was going to be free anymore so I started toiling the land. And my first crop after tearing down the jungles was aibika,” the soft spoken Kabwum man said.
His home district of Kabwum had no road access to bring his produce to the markets in Lae, he therefore opted to secure a block at Bumayong in the Huon Gulf district.
A 200 x 100 square meter land was secured and without any proper farming tools he decided to cut down the thick jungles on the hillside as the flat land downhill had already been taken by other block holders.
The rough slopes and lack of proper tools did not hamper Rabuny as he was on a mission to transform the landscape and make something out of it.
In October of 2012, Rabuny formally started his farming business. After harvesting aibika, he started planting Chinese cabbage, lettuce, pakchoi and some traditional crops.
With the money he made from sales he bought seedlings to build his nursery house and expand the garden plots.
In 2015, while going through that struggle alone, he was fortunate to come across his new love Merolyn from Menyamya. She didn’t come to spectate but to be part of the whole struggle, if not success.
Merolyn brought with her soy bean seedlings which became quite useful in the farm not only providing nutrients to the soil but also generating income for the Lipi’s. She said soybean has since done well at the Lae market and brought in reasonable income like other major crops.
In 2018 Rabuny was one of the Village Extension Workers (VEW) identified under the FPDA’s Lae senior extension officer Conrad Anton’s supervision.
Success as a farmer
Rabuny was one of the VEW’s who attended the induction workshop at Lae in 2018. He said the training he received from FPDA has completely transformed his farming activities.
“I learnt a lot about how to apply fertilizer, when to apply it and when to get maximum output in crop yield. They also taught us how to manage and use our income efficiently,” he said.
After the induction last year, Rabuny sold 610 kilograms of Chinese cabbage, 320kgs of lettuce, 10kgs of spring onion, and 70kgs of pineapple.
Rabuny now supplies Morobe Mines through NKW Fresh, Papindo and other buyers in Morobe and is planning to expand his farm to meet market demand.
He plans to open a bank account to begin operating his farm as a formal business in the next five years.
With the help from John Wambung, a Grade 12 leaver from his village, and his wife and two other boys, the farm has been doing well.
“John helps a lot and like myself back then, he is also upgrading his marks to apply for college. He has been very handy on the farm and I value his contributions so much,” Rabuny said.
Rabuny uploads all his farm activities to Facebook and says it has been helpful when people started placing orders and even visiting the farm.