ACIAR 11 May 2016

MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by La Trobe Uni, Friday, 10 May 2016

La Trobe University is heading a just announced five-year $5 million effort to help Papua New Guinea’s ailing cocoa industry.

Led by Research Fellow in the Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, Philip Keane, the work has been funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

The project will provide critical help for an industry that has accounted for almost 20 per cent of PNG’s agricultural exports and directly affects the livelihood of 150,000 small-holder farming families.

Dr Keane said that over the last decade, cocoa production in PNG has declined by 80 per cent following the arrival of a serious insect pest from Indonesia.

La Trobe Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Keith Nugent, said the work was part of the University’s research into solving global issues of food security, water and the environment.
Dr Keane said cocoa has been the main driver of rural development in lowland PNG since the 1960s.

‘In recent decades most cocoa plantings have become overgrown, resulting in poor management, under-harvesting and heavy losses due to pests and diseases,’ he said.

See more: http://aciar.gov.au/news-and-media/la-trobe-heads-5m-plan-revive-cocoa-industry-papua-new-guinea