UN Financial Support for Papua New Guinea Coffee
The rural development operation of the United Nations has announced a loan package for coffee and cocoa growers in Papua New Guinea, in a bid to better the livelihoods of smallholder producers of the country’s two main commodities.
Signed just this week by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), with senior government officials, the US$14 million loan will be ploughed into training facilitates that will help encourage farmers to engage in more efficient and environmentally-friendly methods of production.
Supporting coffee growers in the provinces within the Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka and Simbu, the financial loan also extends to cocoa producers situated in coastal areas, such as East New Britain and the autonomous region of Boungainville.
With the quality and yields of coffee in Papua New Guinea having fallen off slightly over recent years, this has made it more challenging for producers to earn themselves a living. But with the backing of the latest financial injection, the Rome-based IFAD has now routed almost US$40 million towards the financing of several projects in Papua New Guinea.
Also in India, news of financial support for small coffee farmers has also come to light. The country’s government recently announced that it had begun implementing its considerably-sized debt relief package. With 95 per cent of the beneficiaries expected to be small-scale coffee growers, these producers will see parts of loans being waived as well as balances rescheduled. Medium and large scale coffee farmers meanwhile stand to benefit from just the rescheduling of loan payments – an attractive prospect nonetheless.