NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

290424 FORMER REGIONAL MEMBER FOR BOUGAINVILLE CONGRATULATE NOVAH FARMERS COOPERATIVE FOR THEIR APPROVED PACD PROJECT
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The former Regional member for Bougainville, JOE LERA last Friday congratulated members of the Novah Farmers Cooperative and their lead partner NGIP AGMARK for getting their project application approved by the World Bank team with Cocoa Board.
Speaking at the signing of partnership agreement at Novah, MR LERA said that Bougainville’s dream for becoming Independent can only be made possible by Economic activities and today’s signing was the way forward for Bougainville.
MR.LERA said Cocoa has been the main source of money for Bougainville for many years and the partnership with the World Bank project would help the farmers to develop their capacity to get into downstream processing as well.
He said Bougainville needs more than ONE BILLION KINA annually and starting joint projects like this will definitely support the economic recovery for Bougainville.
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290424 PROJECT MANAGER EXPLAINS ON THEIR ROLE IN THE PACD PROJECTS
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The Project Manager for the PACD project, MR.ROLAND KERINA told farmers from the Novah Farmers Cooperative, the Tsitalato cocoa growers and the Halia Hunkatun Foundation and their other farmers that their role was to oversee and make sure their plans with their lead partners,NGIP AGMARK and PEMANA LIMITED were in line with the World Bank’s objectives.
He made these remarks at the signing of partnership Agreements between the farmers and their lead partners in three locations, NOVAH,MALASANG and TOHATSI villages last Friday.
MR .KERINA said their projects were now in their hands after today’s signings and after CEO for COCOA BOARD signs his final signature.
He said these projects were now in their hands and they must be committed to make them work so that their families can benefit in the future.
MR.KERINA encouraged the farmer to plant enough cocoa tree that they can be able to manage.
He explained that only their projects were approved from many submissions and that they must be proud of this.
Only four constituencies on Buka island were eligible under PACD as mainland communities benefited from the previous PPAP projects.
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290424 PRODUCTIVE PARTNERSHIP COODINATOR FOR NGI SAYS WORK WILL START WITH TODAYS SIGNING CEREMONY
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The Productive Partnership Coordinator for the New Guinea Islands region, MR MARTIN POWELL has assured the PACD recipients of projects on Buka island that although it has taken some time for their projects to start, the waiting was now over with the signings today.
He was speaking at the signing ceremonies held in three project locations on Buka island last Friday.
MR POWELL said after the final signature from the Cocoa Board CEO work will start.
He said that their lead partners must now open project Bank accounts that will be used for their operations and their job was to monitor their activities.
The two lead partners for the PACD projects are PEMANA LIMITED for the Tsitalato Cocoa farmers and NGIP AGMARK for HALIA/HAGOGOHE and TONSU projects.
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290424 IT IS FINALLY HERE SAYS FIDELIS SEMOSO
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The Managing Director for Pemana Limited, FIDELIS SEMOSO lead partner for 828 farmers from Tsitalato Constituency starting from Lonahan village right to Ieta village declared last Friday at Bungbung that the project they have been waiting for more than a year was finally here.
Speaking at the signing of the partnership agreement of the PACD program, MR SEMOSO told his farmers that those who had doubts must start work on their land as of today’s signing.
MR SEMOSO said that they have seen many past projects like this, taught the farmers how to plant and look after their cocoa blocks, but for Tsitalato Community this is a first specific project earmarked for Tsitalato.
He said Tsitaloto Community government pre-crisis was the largest cocoa producing community government on Buka island.
And under this program he said more than 1000 hectare’s of land will be used.
MR SEMOSO further stressed that the program will only strengthen what the farmers have learnt under previous programs.
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260424 FOUR CONSTITUENCIES IN BUKA WILL BENEFIT FROM PACD AFTER PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS WERE SIGNED TODAY IN BUKA
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Four constituencies on Buka island, TONSU,TSITALATO,HAGOGOHE and HALIA will benefit from support from the World Bank through PNG AGRICULTURE COMMERCIALIZATION AND DIVERSIFICATION PROJECT after their leaders signed partnership agreements today at Project sites in Novah, Malasang and Tohatsi project sites.
Similar to PPAP projects in the past, their programs will come under lead partners PEMANA for the Tsitalato cocoa project and NGIP AGMARK will be the lead partner for the Novah Cooperative Society Inc in Tonsu and NGIP AGMARK will also be the lead partner with co-partner, HALIA HUNKATUN FOUNDATION for the HAGOGOHE Constituency’s GREEN TIP FARMER’S GROUP, Evergreen Paradise Cocoa farmers group and the ST LEONIE LKK Diversified Farmers Group from HALIA constituency.
Signing ceremonies started in Novah where Lead Partner NGIP AGMARK’s Bougainville Operations Manager, MS SALOME RIHATTA signed with team leader for the cooperative then to Malasang where FIDELIS SEMOSO signed for his company PEMANA LIMITED as lead partner with group leaders and completing all signings at Malis village, Tohatsi where NGIP AGMARK Bougainville Operations Manager signed for NGIP AGMARK with other group leaders.
The signings were between lead partners and the farmers leaders whilst they were conducted by MR ROLAND KERINA (PACD) Project Manager and MR.MARTIN POWELL the Productive Partnership Officer for New Guinea Islands, witnessed by the PNG Cocoa Board and the farmers.
The signed copies will be brought to Rabaul for the Cocoa Board chief executive officer’s signature for the projects to begin.
Both New Dawn FM and NBC Radio Bougainville covered these activities.
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PNG AGRICULTURE COMMERCIALIZATION AND DIVERSIFIATION PROJECT INFO
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The PNG Agriculture Commercialization and Diversification or (PACD) is a project based on the GoPNG loan agreement with the World Bank at a monetary value of 40 million US dollars.
The kina value is about K120 million and is a government of PNG project funded by a concessionary loan from the World Bank and counterpart funding from the PNG government.
The basic objective of the project is to facilitate the development of competitive and diversified agriculture valued chains for selected commodities in the targeted provinces. The project is running under the Cocoa Board of PNG.
The project covers coffee in the Highlands region and cocoa at the coastal provinces and the PACD builds on the Productive Partnership in Agriculture Project (PPAP), with the inclusion of three more value chains in addition to cocoa and coffee – coconut, spices and small livestock.
There are total of 6 provinces to benefit from the cocoa component which includes East New Britain, West New Britain, New Ireland, Morobe, Madang and AROB.
The project will benefit a target of 20, 000 households across in PNG. The project has five components. Component 1, is Institutional Capacity Building which aims to improve the performance of sector institutions at national and regional level and enhance industry coordination in cocoa, coffee, coconut, spices and small livestock.
Component 2, Agriculture Feeder Roads, will aim to improve access to value chains and markets for farmers through rehabilitation and maintenance of priority feeder roads, paths, or other small transport infrastructure that provides access to the PACD and PPAP partnership smallholder farmers/out growers.
Component 3, Productive Partnerships, has the objective of increasing the integration of small holder producers, producer organisation (POs) and MSMEs into performing, remunerative and diversified value chains. The first sub- component 3.1, will develop and implement PPAP like productive partnerships between small holders and private sector aimed at improving market links in the project areas, with a focus on increasing on-farm and post- harvest productivity and quality.
The second sub-component, 3.2 will benefit POs and MSMEs that are working directly with farmers in the same commodities to increase their competitiveness with a focus on aggregation, logistics, processing and marketing. This will ensure that the aggregation and processors of smallholder produce can increase their absorption capacity and quality and therefore increase the competitiveness of the value chains.
The two sub-components complement each other to ensure that value chains and their stakeholders become more competitive Component 4, Project Management and Monitoring Evaluation, will provide technical and operational assistance for all aspects of project management and implementation in the Project Coordination Unit and two project Management units. Component 5, is the Contingency Emergency Response Component, which will only be used if any emergency response is required, for example following a natural disaster such as earthquake or severe flooding.
Following an eligible crisis or emergency, a request can be made to relocate uncommitted funds to cover the emergency response. Implementation Arrangements This section contains basic information about the implementation of components 2 and 3. The process to decide where Agriculture Feeder Roads interventions will be located will start when the first partnerships have been selected.
The PMU Road Engineer and Environmental and Social Safeguards officer will consult with each partnership community to get a list of possible roads of other transport infrastructure.
The cost of the necessary works and the money value of the expected benefit will be calculated for each road. There will also be thorough community consultation to find out about possible negative environmental or social impacts for partnership and non-partnership communities and individuals.
The road that gives the greatest benefit compared to cost and has the least negative impacts from the ones each partnerships nominated will be funded. Productive Partnership: Sub-component 3.1 This sub-component will operate in two new provinces, West New Britain and New Ireland, as well as four that were in PPAP – East New Britain, AROB, Morobe and Madang. Applications will only be accepted for cocoa-based partnership in new geographical locations ENB and AROB to PPAP. Farmers previously included in PPAP partnerships are not eligible.
Eligible areas are Buka Island in AROB and Pomio district except for the Sinivit LLG in ENB. Lead partners may be eligible in new geographic locations.
There is no restrictions based on PPAP involvement for diversification value chains (coconut, spices, small livestock). As in PPAP, lead partners must be legal entities (company, association or cooperative) with a record of working with small holder farmers.
Awareness for sub-component 3.1 started in November 2022 and the first call for proposals in late November of early December 2022. Productive Partnerships: Sub-component 3.2 This sub-component will operate in the same provinces as 3.1. the first call for proposals will be open only to producer organizations that participated in the PPAP productive partnership component.
This is to ensure that they are linked to the producers. In late calls, POs and MSMEs that participated in sub-component 3.1 of PACD will be eligible.
The POs and MSMEs that apply for the matching grants must be legally established and procure their raw material from local producers, be active in the selected commodities and be based in the selected provinces.
On Buka island farmers from four constituencies will benefit as their proposals were approved. They are Tsitalato,Tonsu,Hagogohe and Halia.
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260424 ABG ACTING CHIEF SECRETARY AND IPA MANAGING DIRECTOR DISCUSS TRANSITION OF KEY IPA POWERS TO BOUGAINVILLE
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ABG Acting Chief Secretary and IPA Managing Director discuss transition of key IPA powers to Bougainville ABG Acting Chief Secretary Kearnneth Nanei and the Managing Director of the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), Clarence Hoot, met today in Buka to discuss key priorities for the economic sector on Bougainville.
Mr Nanei said this meeting was following an invitation from the ABG to discuss and consult on ABG's immediate intervention program to anchor Bougainville’s economy.
This program, which is driven from the Office of the Chief Secretary through a whole-of-government approach, is geared towards working collaboratively with IPA to establish key economic foundational institutions towards creating a stable economic landscape for Bougainville.
The discussions also centered on transferring priority powers under IPA to ABG's Department of Commerce. These powers include Investor Servicing, Business Registration, Regulation and Certification, Protection of Intellectual Property, and Regulating Capital Markets, among others. Acting Chief Secretary Nanei took the opportunity to brief Mr. Hoot in more detail, on the ABG's priority work streams under the economic roadmap and the recently endorsed immediate interim economic package.
This package, endorsed by the Bougainville Executive Council, offers a fresh approach with immediate interventions aligned with the goals of the Economic Roadmap for Bougainville. The proposed activities, adopting a whole-of-government approach, are grouped into work streams as anchors to establish the necessary regulatory framework for a stable economy.
"We want to build on the resilience of our people and support them in building a strong and vibrant economy for Bougainville," Mr. Nanei emphasized.
Mr. Hoot welcomed the presentation from the ABG Acting Chief Secretary, reaffirming IPA's ongoing commitment, support and guidance to the ABG through their regional IPA office in Buka, and through the ABG Department of Commerce, a key partner of IPA in Bougainville.
The meeting was also part of Mr. Hoot's annual tour to visit their regional IPA offices, which include one in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
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240424 HEALTHY COMMUNITY PROJECT OFFICER SAYS BOUGAINVILLE NEEDS TO DEVELOP HEALTHY COMMUNITES
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Many Bougainville homes and villages need to improve hygiene in their communities.
This was revealed by SR CLARICE HAREPA from the Bougainville Healthy Community last week at the launching of the Health Promotion launching in Kokopau.
She said that her organization has been training communities to create healthy homes that should be clean with toilets and having clean water for drinking water and washing.
SR.HAREPA also commented on many parents not taking their babies for immunization risking the lives of their children.
She said for whatever the reason it is up to them.
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240424 THE RISE IN COCOA PRICE AND WITH THE PAYMENT OF WARD MEMBERS BUIN HYBRID BANK HAS RUN OUT OF CASH
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Cash has run out in Buin town as the BUIN HYBRID Bank cannot cope with the increase in Business activities throughout Bougainville.
With the rise in Cocoa price a lot of cocoa farmers have returned to their cocoa blocks to yield from the benefits the farmers are enjoying.
And to make it worse the sudden announcement for direct account payments to ward members throughout Bougainville, Buin ward members checked their balances today but could not cash anything due to cash shortages.
One ward member from Konnou Community Government told New Dawn FM that he was paid ONE THOUSAND KINA but could not cash anything today.
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