FAO continues support to hard-to-reach communities of the Sepik region

Wewak, Papua New Guinea - The FAO under the EU-funded STREIT PNG Programme has reached out to rural communities in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea since 2021, supporting cocoa, vanilla and fisheries households with training and materials to improve value chain production and rural livelihoods. Many of these rural communities remain out of reach and can be accessed by only one means of transport. One of these remotest communities is Ablatak.

Ablatak is located upstream of the Sepik River, its vast forest stretches toward the hinterlands of Ambunti Drekikier District and Nuku District in West Sepik province and can be accessed only by speed boats via a narrow tributary link to the main Sepik River. 

The Ablatak community has been part of the Programme since 2021, receiving support and technical assistance through the means of capacity building training especially in cocoa and vanilla value chains where they were trained to properly farm and cultivate cocoa and vanilla and how to manage their blocks to achieve good yield.

A recent visit by the FAO team saw the successful distribution of Cocoa Pod Borer tolerant seedlings distributed evenly to farmers and vanilla blocks being managed better than in the past. 

A village spokesman and chairman of the Ablatak group was pleased with the support received by the programme so far stating that:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘴.”

Ablatak is now supporting its surrounding hamlets and villages with skilled manpower and cocoa seedlings and is an active beneficiary of the EU-STREIT PNG Programme.

Cocoa