Papua New Guinea Agriculture

A drive to strengthen the cocoa industry in Papua New Guinea is helping local growers draw a line under a difficult few years as rising international demand looks set to aid recovery.

A wave of new fish processing facilities is galvanising downstream activity across Papua New Guinea (PNG), paving the way for the $408m fisheries sector to transform itself into a billion-dollar industry.

The coming years pose considerable challenges to Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) agriculture sector as it continues to come down from the record highs it achieved in 2011. However, increased financial support from the government, as well as several planned infrastructure developments, should help the sector keep pace with overall economic growth.

In addition to the environmental benefits, a focus on sustainable agriculture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is expected to generate healthier sales of the country’s biggest products − palm oil and coffee. However, a number of hurdles will need to be overcome to achieve this goal. Heavy rainfall in the first six months of 2012 has significantly impacted palm oil production, while a labour shortage is expected to affect export revenues of the coffee production segment.

As Papua New Guinea (PNG) seeks to diversify its economy to avoid over-reliance on gas and mineral resources, its nascent fishing and fish-processing industry is rising in potential.

With a major project backed by the World Bank getting under way and a sizeable budget allocated by the government, Papua New Guinea’s state-run coffee industry has significant potential for expansion in 2012.