Agriculture & Fisheries
From The Report: Papua New Guinea 2018
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Papua New Guinea’s fertile soils are instrumental in the lives of the country’s residents, both as a source of income and nutrition. The agriculture sector has constituted between 25% and 40% of GDP over the last four decades, while supporting the livelihoods of around 85% of the population. Despite the sector’s importance, however, the evolution of farming has long been restricted by insufficient foreign investment, limited public spending of around 2% of GDP per annum, ambiguous land policies, major infrastructure gaps and a lack of access to credit at the smallholder level.

This chapter contains interviews with Greg Worthington-Eyre, CEO, Trukai Industries; and Ritche Rivera, Vice-Chairman, RD Corporation.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Fantastic four: Trade continues to be driven by a handful of top exporters, while the legal regime creates hurdles to land ownership
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Papua New Guinea’s fertile soils are instrumental in the lives of the country’s residents, both as a source of income and nutrition. The agriculture sector has constituted between 25% and 40% of GDP over the last four decades, while supporting the livelihoods of around 85% of the population. Despite the sector’s importance, however, the evolution of farming has long been restricted by insufficient foreign investment, limited public spending of around 2% of GDP per annum, ambiguous land…

Interview

Getting it right: Greg Worthington-Eyre, CEO, Trukai Industries, on reaching food self-sufficiency and improving local supply chains
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Interview:Greg Worthington-Eyre, CEO, Trukai Industries How would you assess the government’s attempts to improve food self-sufficiency? GREG WORTHINGTON-EYRE: Developing the agriculture sector and becoming more self-sufficient in food production makes sense. When you look at Papua New Guinea’s economy there are two key driving forces. First, there are the extractive industries, such as mining and energy. Mining employs a number of people for the construction phase, but quickly scales…

Analysis

Steady evolution: Agri-business projects seek to diversify output and ease dependence on imports
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Although the agriculture sector has some significant hurdles to overcome, this has not stopped a host of agri-business projects from sprouting up across the country in recent years. With the gradual inward flow of foreign capital and the adoption of farming-optimisation techniques, agri-business has the potential to be the new growth engine of Papua New Guinea. Sector Support Agriculture in the country faces a number of challenges, including fluctuations in supply, which is a result of a fragmented…

Analysis

Gone fishing: Officials work to increase domestic fish processing
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In an attempt to persuade foreign-owned fishing vessels to process their catches from Papua New Guinea waters at local facilities, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill announced the cancellation of a fishing fee subsidy in December 2017 and replaced it with a rebate for processing seafood onshore. While the move is designed to improve PNG’s fisheries export potential, the new rebate has been met with mixed reactions. Previously, the government gave an allowance through a vessel day scheme (VDS) on the…

Interview

The long haul: Ritche Rivera, Vice-Chairman, RD Corporation, on sustainability and integrating into regional supply chains
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Interview: Ritche Rivera, Vice-Chairman, RD Corporation What role do you see for fisheries in the government’s attempts to diversify the economy? RITCHIE RIVERA: Papua New Guinea’s fishing industry has huge potential to help diversify and stimulate the country’s economy. However, PNG will have difficulties competing with other markets if it does not have the right infrastructure, facilities and management in place. The last 20 years have been difficult for maintaining a sustainable business…

Analysis

On hold: Tax credit scheme halted for government review
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In a bid to increase transparency and ensure that only qualified projects are eligible for government assistance, a complete review of Papua New Guinea’s tax credit scheme (TCS) got under way in the beginning of 2018. The government has utilised the TCS to enhance the commercial viability of infrastructure projects since 2003, albeit with mixed results. This led Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to call a halt to the scheme in early 2018 due to split views on its effectiveness. With the TCS now on…