Local PNG-owned rice production company, Rigo Rice Limited has advanced into commercial farming.
This was made known following a small but significant ground-breaking ceremony held at their farm site in Rigo District, Central Province, on Thursday May 30th.
An additional 6000 hectares of land were granted to the company to increase the ploughing fields on the farm. Rigo rice has transitioned from its humble beginnings into a commercial rice farm and has increased its production in tone per hectares over the last six months.
Additionally, several new machines were added to their farm fleet, which will be used for irrigation, planting, harvesting and other general purposes in the farm.
Minister for National Planning and member for Rigo Hon. Sir Ano Pala was present along with the department secretary Koni Samuel, as well as stake holders, sponsors and the Rigo Rice’s managing director Jeffery Kennedy, to officiate this milestone achievement for the company.
Department of National Planning gave K20 million, and Rigo District Development Authority co-funded the project with additional K4.4 million during the launching, which was received by Mr Kennedy and his company secretary.
Sir Ano stated that Rigo Rice is an example showing PNG that significant achievements are possible, given that large portion of lands in the country are customary.
“Large scale agriculture can feed the entire South East Asian Region if we make timely investments of money into commercializing the agriculture sector in the country,” Sir Ano said.
He emphasized the importance of commercialising agriculture in PNG.
“This nation is resourceful but once the natural resources run out, agriculture can become the major revenue generating sector for the country,” Sir Ano said.
MD Mr Kennedy applauded Sir Ano for believing in his business ethic from the beginning.
Mr. Kennedy extended his appreciation to the people of Rigo for working in close collaboration in the past five years till now.
“The expansion of the rice fields through the additional land acquired and the adding of agricultural machineries to the farm signifies that we have already advanced into large scale commercial farming,” Mr. Kennedy added.
