Photo credit: United Nations
Prime Minister Hon. James Marape says Papua New Guinea can become a food supplier to the world with its abundance of land and sea.
PM Marape, when addressing the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Friday (September 23, 2022), invited new international development partners to work with PNG in the agriculture sector, particularly in downstream processing.
Earlier in the week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, when addressing the UNGA, talked about the emerging world food crisis as a direct result of the Russia-Ukraine war.
PM Marape said many parts of the world were facing food insecurity, hunger and poverty and PNG could be a country of food production.
He said PNG’s people lived in a land mass of 462,840 square km and also had a large sea area which supplied tuna to Asia and Europe.
“PNG has enough land, sea and people to be a food supplier to the world, Mr Secretary-General, in response to your concerns for global food security,” PM Marape said.
“For the first time, in our country, my Government has inserted efforts to address this imminent problem by placing more emphasis on the agriculture sector.
“This is viewed not only as a revenue source for our economy, but also a conduit to empower the majority of our rural communities through introduction of innovative farming methods in cash crop production, livestock and poultry to take ownership and leadership of their development needs, and livelihoods, and at the same time also foster poverty alleviation and food security.
“It is from this perspective that we have established new ministerial portfolios for Oil Palm, Coffee and Livestock.
“That will assist us cater better not only for needs of the majority of our rural communities and their local economies to be integrated into the national and global markets, to improve their lives and livelihood but be the source for food security, and hunger and poverty alleviation for other countries.
“We therefore welcome new international development partners to work with us in the agriculture sector, particularly in the downstream processing of products that add value and support local communities and the country.”
Article courtesy of James Marape News Page
