Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru announced today at Baiyer Station in the Mul-Baiyer District of Western Highlands that the province will be the feed and chicken capital of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Minister Maru made this announcement on Wednesday during his visit to the district with the Japan Development Institute (JDI) Expert Team and the local consultants to see the district which has been identified as one of the 18 potential Special Economic Zone (SEZ) locations in the country.
“Mul-Baiyer was added to the list of potential SEZ locations in the country because it has two large stretches of undeveloped state land- Baiyer Valley with 6, 000 hectares and Ruti Valley with 44, 000 hectares; a total of 50, 000 hectares of state land. If there was no state land then we would not be here,” Minister Maru explained.
The leaders from the district did a customary act by presenting a little plastic of soil to Minister Maru to show that they were returning the land to the state to be developed.
“I have the highest respect for the Mul-Baiyer people because you never went and touched the state land; you have been waiting for the state to come and develop it and that makes you different from other parts of the country. That is the reason why the government is giving priority to you, out of respect. You deserve to be supported,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru said that Mul-Baiyer was an important asset to the country because of its land resource and it had a huge potential to develop large-scale commercial agriculture projects.
“Currently, PNG is importing wheat and feed from Australia when we can grow them here in Mul-Baiyer where they are already being grown in small scale. The government has identified Western Highlands Province, in particular the Baiyer and the Ruti valleys to do a trial on growing wheat, sorghum and maze for commercial development of the feed industry. If the Mul-Baiyer DDA and the Western Highlands Provincial Government agrees then we can jointly fund the trial and have a feasibility study done to assess the viability of having a feed industry in the district,” said Minister Maru.
“If the study finds the industry feasible and we have a feed industry here then the price of the chicken will reduce to half of what we are paying today because the big cost of chicken production in the country comes from the feed that we import from Australia. Western Highlands will become the cheapest chicken producer of this country; it will be a million-dollar industry for this province because all neighbouring provinces will be buying the chicken here, including Madang once the Madang-Baiyer Road is built,” Minister Maru said.
Minister Maru announced to the people of Mul-Baiyer, and to their local MP, Hon. Jacob Maki and the Western Highlands Governor, Hon. Wai Rapa who were present at the event, that his Ministry of International Trade and Investment will open an office in Baiyer next year, 2023.
“We have an exciting opportunity for the Western Highlands Province. I want to request the Mul-Baiyer DDA to support my Ministry by giving us an office space and the Provincial Government to give us a vehicle. This office that will be opened here will coordinate the feasibility study to set up feed and chicken industry in this province. I will bring in global experts to come and do the study to see the viability of these industries. If the study is feasible, and with the cooperation of the local MP and Western Highlands Governor, we will go ahead with mechanized farming of feed here; it will be a significant million-kina investment for PNG. The Ministry will be seeking investors from around the world to develop this critical feed industry in the country,” Minister Maru said.
“PNG Kina was stronger than the Australian and American Dollar in the early years after independence, though the country had only one mine back then in Bougainville.
Today, we have 8 resource projects, including the LNG project but our Kina value is so weak, we have the highest number of unemployment with 85% of our young people unemployed, and the highest number of debts since independence. This is because we have failed to build the agriculture sector of this country over the last 47 years. While the resource sector is still important for income and jobs, our future is not in gold and copper and gas as we have seen over the last 47 years, it is in agriculture, fisheries and forestry. We must go back to the land and utilize it,” said Minister Maru.
Meanwhile, Minister Maru together with Hon. Maki, Governor Rapa and the JDI Expert Team also visited Ruti valley where they were welcomed by the locals who expressed their happiness with chants and tears upon hearing the big announcement. The government will proceed with the feasibility study for the development of the proposed Baiyer SEZ in January, 2023.
