Photo: James Marape
According to Prime Minister James Marape, commercial agriculture, fisheries, and forestry will be used to strengthen the rural economy of the nation.
Marape stated that a strong agricultural foundation was a goal of the government.
“Growing the rural economy through agriculture presents many opportunities,” he said.
“We must explore commercial agriculture, unlock land, and look to open new markets for our products.”
“The Government will maintain the commodity price support and freight subsidy programmes, both of which have had enormous impacts on the growth of the agricultural sector.
“But we must build economic infrastructure to unlock the potential of rural areas and build market systems through digital platforms so that our people can trade more seamlessly in an increasingly integrated global marketplace.”
According to Marape, the government has also created a long-term plan for the growth of fisheries.
“The plan builds regulatory resilience, but importantly also provides very clear guidance on fisheries investment, and downstream processing,” he said.
As a Government, we must participate in the market directly and encourage downstream processing of all our marine products, not just tuna.
“And in forestry, we remain committed to stopping all round log exports by 2025 as a first industry to migrate to downstream processing.”
Reference: The National (25 October 2022). “Agriculture, fisheries and forestry crucial”.
