By GEORGINA MICHAEL
Minister for Oil Palm, Francis Galia Maneke, has noted the urgent need for stronger legislation to drive growth in Papua New Guinea’s agriculture sector, as the Oil Palm Industry Management Bill 2025 and the Oil Palm Industry Authority Bill 2025 underwent their final validation in Kokopo last Wednesday.
Speaking at the program, Minister Maneke stressed that legislating commodities such as oil palm is critical for establishing clear policy guidelines to support economic prosperity.
“This validation program is an opportunity for us to make sure that we have the right mind set in order to have a more appropriate legislation for oil palm in our country,” Maneke said.
“This is a sovereign nation. We deserve legislations that will lead to legislate and regulate our oil palm industry going forward. We must not allow any distractions in the way we’re doing business in our country.”
Drawing from personal experiences in the oil palm sector, Maneke noted that many of the challenges currently facing East New Britain’s industry stem from the absence of forward-looking legislation. Although the province has hosted the industry for decades, it has lacked a modern legal framework.
“The bill aims to address these gaps, including the establishment of a new structure post-legislation,” he said.
The proposed laws focus on integrating local and customary landowners into development, ensuring environmental compliance, and maximizing benefits for growers. They also seek to close long-standing gaps in infrastructure development and welfare provisions.
Maneke expressed gratitude to the oil palm industry for continuing to operate in the province despite the absence of comprehensive legislation, and acknowledged the East New Britain provincial government for supporting its growth.
“We deserve a legislation that will help to pave the way for our economy whilst helping our local oil palm growers. Today we have the way forward, the way we want to do business in terms of agriculture,” he said.
The minister added that clear legislation would also instill confidence in development partners, including the World Bank, to support PNG’s agricultural programs.
“The important thing is that we have to have all the commodities legislated properly, so we have policy guidelines in order for us to prosper in terms of respective commodities that we have in our country,” Maneke said.
The validation in Kokopo marks the final round of stakeholder input before the bills are presented to Parliament.