Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

PNG Rural Development Bank annonces investment programme in Morobe Province

Posted at 23:36 on 15 August, 2006 UTC

Papua New Guinea’s Rural Development Bank is to pump over 3 million US dollars into agro-businesses in the next four years in Morobe province.

The bank told the National paper that the the money would be invested in cattle, cocoa, copra, oil palm, rice, poultry, fish, among other crops and livestock.

The bank says the bulk of the fund would be spent on activities in the Markham Valley.

Trudi Egi from the bank’s Lae Branch says over 600-thousand US dollars will go into the development of the oil palm industry in the valley, and over 1 million US dollars will be on cattle.

He says the rest of the money will be loaned out to smallholder farmers for their various projects in the valley.