By MORTIMER YANGHARRY
IMAGINE toiling the land by a determined local community to introduce a cash crop not many are aware or interested in investing their time and efforts in.
The people of the Aramba tribe of the Setavi village in the South Fly Open Electorate of Western Province are determined to go into commercial cocoa farming.
They got together and formed the Aramba Development Foundation Incorporated (ADFI) to better improvise and pull resources together to professionally liaise for government assistance and other related technical assistance from international donors and other relevant stakeholders in the commercial agriculture sector.
North Fly MP James Donald who was attending the week long Provincial Executive Council (PEC) meeting in Daru last week accompanied Western governor Taboi Awi Yoto to Setavi village to inspect and acknowledge the work of ADFI in the promotion, cultivation and farming of cocoa in the province.
Donald was emotionally moved by the resilience of the people to work hard in order to economically empower themselves, their families, their villages, the district and the province as a whole.
“I would spend my time with those that value life and wish to work hard rather then those that take things for granted and expect free handouts,” Donald said.
“The people of Setavi village of Aramba tribe in SF (South Fly), I am moved by your passion toward a dream of breaking poverty cycle.”
Donald pledged the ADFI his commitment to help this important lifeline project and assured the Setavi people that he will ensure assistance is given accordingly when sought.
“You’ve started a journey of a million miles with a single step. So long as that drive of yours doesn’t die out, you will get there,” Donald said.
According to the first term MP, one of the best place to invest in commercial agriculture is the mainland of South Fly district of the Western Province, where the flat savannah grassland extends from Suki across through to Pahoturi and then to the boarder of Sota Weam ideally located for commercial agricultural investments.