Photo credit: Malum Nalu
Oil Palm Industry Corporation is embarking on building and developing a 60,000 Oil Palm Seedling Nursery at Erap in the Markham Valley of the Morobe Province to supply seedlings to local smallholder growers in the Markham Valley and Ramu Valley.
General Secretary for OPIC, Mr Kepson Pupita recently was at the Department of Agriculture and Livestock's station in Erap in the Markham Valley to initiate this project which is a 60,000 hybrid Oil Palm seedling nursery for smallholder growers in the area to benefit from.
Mr Pupita said "Because there were already two Oil Palm Mills operating in the area there is not much smallholder involvement and activity apart from big companies that operate. So as the Government Authority responsible for smallholder development, OPIC has to establish an avenue for smallholder Oil Palm growers in the Markham and Ramu area to benefit and sustain themselves".
The 60,000 seedlings are enough for 500 hectares of fast growing hybrid Oil Palm. OPIC has also started building a special projects office, two staff houses and have installed a generator as well as equipment and machinery to assist its officers in getting the project started.
This initiative is in line with the Marape-Rosso governments vision for agricultural development in the country. The Oil Palm seedling nursery will be built on 6 hectares of land that is owned by the state under the Department of Agriculture and Livestock.
