the former Member of Parlia-ment and our Governor Gen-eral Sir Bob Dadae. We staged a very succe ssful Agricultural Innovation Show in May which coincided with the 20th Anniver-sary of NARI and we were privi-leged to have the Australian Consul General to Lae, Paul Murphy as the Chief Guest. On this occasion, we also released four taro varieties to the farming community; bringing the total technologies released by NARI to date to 29. NARI also launched the European Union funded climate change project ‘st rengthening food production capacity and resilience to vul-nerable communities’. This mega project was officially launched by the Head of Dele-gation of the European Union
ISSN 1608-6554 Newsletter of the PNG National Agricultural Research Institute
tends his best wishes and appreciation to all staff of NARI and to our partners and stakeholders, including the many farmers we have worked with during the course of this year. There has been considerable pro-gress this year at project level. These included the launching of the PNG In-centive Fund supported Solar Rice Mill Project by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Julie Bishop in March. In February we partnered with the Kabwum District Devel-opment Authority to estab-lish the Clean Potato Seed Scheme in the district. This project was the initiative of
Aus tralian Foreign Affairs Minis ter J ulie Bis hop during the launchi ng of Sol ar Rice Mill Projec t i n Lae, flanked by NA RI Council C hairman Prof C hal apan Kal uwi n (l eft) and former Immigration Minis ter Rim bink Pato on Marc h 14, 2017.
Page 3
Page 6
Book Review
– Page 10
to PNG, Ambassador Ioannis Giokarakis Argyropolous in Milne Bay on 16 May together with Simon David Tonge, Brit-ish High Commissioner and Pascal Maubert, Ambassador for France. This project will be rolled out in 2018 to some 22 various target communities in eleven coastal provinces. In August, we signed a Memo-randum of Agreement with Trukai Industries Limited for the development of commer-cial rice production and the analysis of the rice value chain in PNG. We welcomed back Janet Pandi and Michael Dom who succe ssfully completed their PhD studies in March. We also look forward to an improved ICT institute-wide with the migration of our inter-
NARI partners Child Fund in climate change project in Central Province
to page 2
Mumeng vegetable farming
Page 10
The National Agricultural Re-search Institute (NARI) was established by an Act of Na-tional Parliament of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in July 1996 as a public funded, statutory re-search organisation, to con-duct and foster applied and adaptive research into:
i) any branch of biological, physical and natural sciences related to agriculture;
ii) cultural and socioeconomic aspects of the agricultural sec-tor, especially of the small-holder agriculture; and
iii) matters relating to rural development. and of relevance to Papua New Guinea.
Besides, NARI is responsible for providing technical, analyti-cal, diagnostic and advisory services and up-to-date infor-mation to the agriculture sec-tor in PNG.
Th e I n st itu te’s pu rpo se
(strategic objective) is to ac-complish enhanced productiv-ity, efficiency, stability and
sustainability of the small-holder agriculture sector in the country so as to contribute to
the improved welfare of rural families and communities who depend wholly or partly on agri-
culture for their livelihoods. This is intended to be accom-plished through NARI’s mission
of promoting innovative agricul-tural development in Papua New Guinea through scientific
research, knowledge creation and information exchange.
Page 2
-net to Telikom PNG. This migration was effected with the signing of a Memoran-dum of Agreement with Te-likom PNG in May. We have continued to main-tain clean financial records, with the latest being the 2016 Unqualified Audit Re-port as certified by the Audi-tor General’s Office. Our team has developed three new projects which have now reached ad-vanced stages and we look forward to have them com-ing into the stream in the first and second quarters of 2018. These three projects are all funded by ACIAR including; Establishing Climate Infor-mation Centres to Enhance Climate Change Smart Food Production in PNG and Fiji, Galip Nut Project Phase 2 under TADEP, and One Health Livestock project. Throughout this year, the senior management has taken a firm reign to weather the financial challenges we faced. This has called for the institute to mobilise addi-tional funds through internal revenue and project-based donor funding to supplement the national government funding. To better enable this into the future, the institute has al-ready developed the Reve-nue Generation Plan 2017-2021 and Medium Term Im-plementation Plan 2017-2020 and now developing the Resource Mobilisation Plan 2018-2022. These achievements could not have been possible with-out the support of the Gov-ernment of PNG, AUSAID/
DFAT (ACIAR) and the EU, sta keholders, donors, staff from all programmes and at all levels. We highly appreci-ate and treasure your com-mitments and contributions. Our challenges in the me-dium term are to mobilise generation of internal reve-nue and attract external do-nor funds to sustain the In-stitute better towards en-hancement of scientific re-search, publications and technology transfer. We look forward to another good year in 2018 with your continued support and pro-active contributions. On be-half of the Institute Council
Chairman, Council Members and Executive Management, I convey my season’s greet-ings and best wishes to all staff, your families, partners, and friends, a Merry Christ-mas and Happy New Year 2018.
DG’s Christmas message From page 1
Dr Sergie Bang during EU Inception work-
Participants of the solar rice mill project workshop
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 3
A two -d a y i n cep ti on meeting for a European
Union funded project, fo-cused on building resilience and improving food security for communities who had been affected by the recent drought in the country, was staged from 15 - 16 Novem-ber, 2017 at NARI Head-quarters outside Lae.
The meet saw representa-tives from various govern-ment agencies and NGOs representing the southern region including Western, Gulf, Central, Milne Bay, Oro provincial and District Ad-ministrations, Morobe Pro-vincial Disa ster Office, Wild-life Conservation Society, Lutheran Development Ser-vices, Baptist Union of PNG, International Organisation for Migration, Aerial Consultant Limited and the Ok Tedi De-velopment Foundation.
Discu ssions and activities were centered on finding possible interventions and how best each project part-ner would contribute towards achieving objectives stipu-lated in the project. All part-ners in the project were also
Gr oup pr esentations by works hop participants
Participants of the food security workshop
other during the course of the project in order to cre-ate a positive and mean-ingful impact for those communities who will be-nefit. NARI’s Information and Kno wledge P ro -gramme Director Dr Sim Sar urged all to work as a team towards building re-sil ience among the af-fected communities to be prepared for any natural disasters in the future. He said after the project is complete, families in target areas in the country are able to grow improved crop varieties, and have enough to eat during dis-asters such as fro st, heavy rains or drought. On behalf of participants, Goilala District Administrator Titus Girau thanked NARI, EU and other participants say-ing as representatives in the districts they are seen as ‘f ront l ine managers’ who will facilitate in imple-menting activities to miti-gate climate change re-lated issue s. partners in ensuring affected commu-nities are well prepared for future natural disasters such as drought.
Mr Girau said his district’s participation will help on how to implement inter-ventions set out by NARI and other project. He said de spi te ha ving l ocal knowledge on how to deal with natural disaste rs there are other improved ways on climate change which had severely af-fected food supplies dur-ing the recent drought na-tionwide. “Your (NARI) expertise and such inter-actions will really help all of us at the rural setting to map out a way forward and give some hope to our vulnerable communities.
The two-day meet gauged and discussed views, ap-proaches and insights into past projects with EU, to determine how best
various interventions and the mobilisation of re-source s to implement the project at pilot and outreach sites in the country.
Some key issues or needs that were discussed were farmer training, improved crop varieties which are tolerant to drought, livestock and vital data information collected from the field to form the basis of planning and implementing the pro-ject among others.
All partners in the project were also encouraged to interact with each other dur-ing the course of the project in order to create a positive and meaningful impact for those communities who will benefit under the project.
Th e Eu ro pe an Unio n funded “Strengthening food production capacity and the resil ience to drought of vul-nerable communities” pro-ject will run for four years.
A similar workshop was held in October for the Mo-mase and New Guinea Is-lands regions. The conclu-sion of the Inception work-shop paves way for the roll-out of the implementation phase of the project at the various selected sites in 11 coastal provinces of PNG.
Project aims to improve farming resilience
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 4
P roject Support Services Limited, a Lae-based
agricultural machinery sup-plier has delivered solar rice mill machinery to the NARI as part of a pilot project which will start in 2018 and aims to address food secu-rity in Morobe. Two solar rice mills were handed over to NARI.
One of the two machines will be permanently installed at a selected site at NARI, Bubia while the other will be used for external activities as outreach or field days as part of demonstration pur-poses.
The partnership between NARI and Project Support Services Limited (PSS) con-tinues to grow stronger through the solar rice mill project funded by Australian government’s donor agency Incentive Fund.
This strong partnership was evident through a practical se ssion with NARI’s Farm
Mechanisation team on how to set up, maintain and op-erate solar rice huller and rice polisher by PSS.
PSS Officer Milan Ge-lakaupa said in order for the solar powered rice mill to work efficiently, operators must be taught how to use them carefully and ensure the machinery is correctly
set up. Farm Mechanisation Technicians Joe Someng and Steven Kakamu who have been with NARI for the last five years were pleased to be part of the project learning how to setup the solar machinery which har-nesses solar energy.
Mr Someng and Mr Kakamu acknowledged that the life
of the solar rice mill machin-ery will really depend on how selected communities look after and sustain their operation.
NARI will set up a perma-nent structure to house the solar rice mill machineries which include a rice huller and polisher for demonstra-tion purposes to farmers and visitors.
This project will be rolled out over the next two years in Morobe and will empha-sise participation of all members of selected com-munities including women, girls, youth, children; and people living with disabil ity.
The project will be imple-mented by NARI in partner-ship with Trukai Industries, PSS, PNGWiADF and the Morobe Provincial DAL.
The solar rice machinery can power other household electrical items such as fans, lights, and recharging mobile phones.
PSS delivers solar rice mill to NARI
PSS Limited officer Milan Gelakaupa demonstrating how the solar rice mill works and how to adjust various parts of the machine when hulling and polishing rice.
Farm Mechanisation Technician Joe Someng checks and adjusts the solar rice mill.
Inset photo: Rice polished through the rice polisher.
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 5
Crop multiplication plot established in New Ireland
N ARI continued to make its presence felt through its infor-
mation and outreach program in New Ireland province. NARI’s in-volvement was possible through an invitation by the PNG Coconut and Cocoa Institute to participate at the Central New Ireland Innovation Show at Kamalabua vil lage. A team of three officers led by Mathew Poie-nou, Senior Scientist, spent about four days carrying out various activi-ties including the establishment of climate change (drought) crop multi-plication plots to supply seeds.
The team also displayed 33 sweet-potato, 5 taro and 3 singapore varie-ties, cassava, pitpit and bananas. Presentations also covered plant propagation relating to fruits and nuts, cocoa, drought tolerant crops and their methods of cultivation, ga-lip bare-rooting (offered for sale with roots exposed) and potting, inte-grated farming systems and relevant coping strategies for climate change. NARI hopes to work closely with PNGCCI to oversee and facilitate in planting material distribution in the communities it works with.
engaged through support of the Morobe Provincial Administration to buy, pack-age and ship taro to Port Moresby. Lokol Food PNG Limited Manager Yaing Kaju said the agent is a new establishment that has been buying the local Num-kowec variety from farmers. He admit-ted that there is more work to be done in improving post harvest and handling processes to ensure quality is main-tained to meet market requirements and demand. Mr Kaju said taro is a ‘sleeping giant’ which can create income opportu-nities for farmers and the country, if all sta keholders work together to make it a q u a l i t y c a s h c r o p . Discu ssions were centred on pests and diseases such a s the Taro Beetle and the Taro Leaf Blight which are affecting taro production and how they can be managed through crop improvement by NARI and chemical control by farmers engaged in commercial taro production. Deputy Provincial Administrator Ma-sayan Moat said for taro to become a commercial crop, it requires a joint effort by all relevant stakeholders including farmers, government, and donor agen-cies to address production issues to market access. The taro field day was attended by representatives from NARI, Australian Centre International Agricul-tural Research, Lae-based media agen-cies and farmers.
By Samuel Toposona
N ARI staged a taro field day to inform farmers of the im-
proved taro varieties it had bred and released to the farming com-munities on 3 October, 2017. Lae-based farmers who were pleased to learn about NARI’s release of four elite lines; NT 05, NT 06, NT 07, and NT 08. These lines are tolerant to the Taro Leaf Blight which is one of the major production constraints. The other characters of the elite l ines, are high yielding, good eating quality and have potential for mar-keting and integration into farming system s. Fa rmers we re ta ken through a series of presentations and demonstrations, ranging from taro seeds and production systems, post harvest handling, taro genetic improvement, food processing, po-tential of peels as ingredient for l ivestock feed and commercial im-plications. NARI’s Crop Improve-ment Scientist Jeffrey Waki urged farmers who attended to ensure they have sufficient supply of taro seedlings (suckers) which are free of pests or disease s to continue growing taro to meet the existing demand at local markets. Mr Waki also demonstrated to farmers, sim-ple techniques of producing clean planting cultivars to have enough supply of taro seeds. Lokol Food PNG was e stablished recently and
NARI hosts taro field day for Lae farmers
Taro farmers from Lae observing demonstration of NARI released taro varieties during the taro field day
Manus islanders learn improved cropping
L ocals from Andra and Po-nam atolls of Manus are
now successfully growing sweet-potato, corn, cassava, African yams and other local food crops. This is the result of a training ar-rangement between NARI Aiyura and Wildlife Conservation Society on farm training conducted in 2015.The objective of this farmer training is to improve food secu-rity and crop diversification. This achievement was spelt out during a European Union Inception workshop in Lae from October 25 to 26, 2017 in building resilience for communities who are vulner-able to effects of climate change.
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 6
G ender based violence (GBV) is becoming a
growing concern and one of the contributing factors behind this issue is food shortage within families. To address GBV, all rele-vant government agencies and stakeholders have to work together to ensu re communities understand how to address violence in a proper manner and this can also be addressed through agricultural activi-ties such a s rice produc-tion. Rice is now a staple food in Papua New Guinea and can also address food security issue s and mini-mise violence when every-one participate in producing rice in the community. These remarks were ech-oed during a workshop fo-cu se d on com mu nity against gender based vio-lence a s pa rt o f a K2.5million Solar Rice Mill project facilitated NARI with funding Incentive Fund. Re p re se n ta t i ve s f ro m Morobe Provincial Depart-ment of Agriculture and Livestock, Wampit Rice Farmers’, Project Support Service s Limited, Lae-based media officers and University of Goro ka’s Cen-
tre for Social and Creative Media and Ginigoada con-verged to discu ss and find possible ways to see how the solar rice mill project can address gender-related issues. The solar rice mill project aims to implement activities that empower women and girls and also focus on child protection, disability inclusion, and HIV/AIDS. NARI hopes to insti ll more awareness for the identified communities who will benefit from the project. NARI’s Director General Dr Sergie Bang told participants that the project sees the importance of how communities are able to participate meaning-fully. Dr Bang said food se-curity through the project plays an important role in
the lives of communities and rice, which is a staple food in the country needs various sta keholders to work together to increase its production. The project is also looking at address-ing mill ing constraints in rice production and harness the use of solar energy for electrical items such a s mo-bile phones and lights. He said the national govern-ment has announced plans to identify key partner or-ganisations who will be en-gaged in mass production of rice once suitable areas in the country are identified. Lae Police Representative Sergeant Dianne Aiam, Co-ordinator Community Polic-ing says there are various forms of violence taking place in the community and
called for m o r e a w a r e -ness. Vari-ous form s of violence i n c l u d e s e x u a l , p h y si ca l , emotional, and eco-n o m i c a l a m o n g
others. Morobe Provincial Department of Agriculture and Livestock’s Rice & Grain Officer Margret Titus shared similar thoughts saying gender based vio-lence was a very broad is-sue and everyone has to contribute in various ways to address it. Mrs Titus said understanding roles and re sp on sibil ities be tween men and women is one simple way which can make people aware in or-der to l ive harmoniously with each other. She said violence was a reoccurring issue and such projects was timely and thanked NARI in initiating the proc-ess to bring in such tech-nologies to prepare and make communities under-stand how they can use such technology to su stain their l iving. Farmers we re encouraged to grow more rice in order to feed more people as the demand in consumption was increas-ing. The cost of importing rice is about K300million each year and increase in local production can con-tribute towards reduction in import bill. Dr Birte Ko-molong in her closing re-marks told participants that gender based violence was not only common in PNG but also in other countries. She said, “Gender based violence can be addressed to ensure there is gender equality and that is having equal opportunities in l ife for both men and women. And one way to address violence is to say that vio-lence is not right and we have to put a stop to it.”
Project looks at addressing Gender-Based Violence
Top Left: Dr Birte K omolong
Bottom left: Demonstration of solar rice mill
Above: Margaret Titus of Morobe Provincial DAL
Sergeant Dianne Ai am, Coordinator Community Policing speaki ng on G BV
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 7
P eter Linibi is a very keen sup-porter of agriculture. He was also
husband to the current President of PNG Women in Agriculture Develop-ment Foundation (PNGWiADF), Maria Linibi and has been proactively sup-porting the work of agriculture with organisations such as the NARI for the last 15 years. His determination, commitment, and passion to see agri-culture grow and translate into healthy living in his home district of Markham did note fade until his untimely pass-ing on October 29, 2017. Dr Sergie Bang, Director General of NARI said late Mr Linibi was not someone who would give up easily but continued to support his wife Maria through the work of PNGWiADF despite the many challenges. He said, “NARI will con-tin ue to su ppo rt th e wo rk of PNGWiADF through its network of women.” Late Mr Linibi’s engagement in agriculture with Maria started in
1994 where he introduced rice farm-ing, African yam, and hybrid cocoa to his community as a model farmer. His humility and will ingness were some unique characters which stood out when he was engaged through farmer training activities, advocating on healthy living and small-scale down-stream processing of various agricul-tural food products among others.
The eldest of his children, Lisa Linibi, in a tribute to her late father said he had played a significant role in bridg-ing the link between farmers and sci-entists at NARI, a long time develop-ment partner through various agricul-tural related activities. Ms Linibi said her father’s work in agriculture had also gained overwhelming support locally and abroad and thanked NARI and the Markham District Administra-tion among other stakeholders for their tireless support. Apart from being
a strong agriculture advocate, late Mr Linibi was also an influ-ential leader within his home community of Mutzing in the Umi/Atzera local level govern-ment area. Markham District Administrator John Orobut re-calls Peter Linibi’s humble and easy going character saying he was very inst rumental in some of the district’s agricultural pro-grams by going out and conduct-ing farmer training as part of growing the agriculture sector. Albert Senar, brother to Mrs Linibi described his late brother-in-law as someone who was kind, loving, easy going, pro-moter of healthy living and very self reliant at what he holds close to his heart and that is the development of the agriculture sector.
Late Peter Linibi was born on November 30, 1952 in Tele-fomin, West Sepik where his primary education started and grew up under his parent’s watchful eyes. His primary edu-
cation extended to Wewak before he was enrolled at the Lae Technical College (now Lae Polytechnic Insti-tute) before considering enrolling at the Bomana Police College in 1967 and recruited as a police officer the following year. Mr Linibi’s police ca-reer took him places with his first posting at Konedobu, then on to Tom-aringa Police Barracks in East New Britain, Kundiawa, and then moved up the police ranks as a CID in 1974. He officially resigned from police duties in 1992 and returned to Markham dis-trict. About two thousand people turned up to pay their respects to the late Peter Linibi who was laid to rest on November 7, 2017, beside his home at Mutzing station, after years of dedicated services towards the de-velopment of the agriculture sector through his involvement with the PNGWiADF and other development partners.
Late Peter Linibi during a workshop held in Lae
Strong agriculture supporter passes on
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 8
F armers in Mumeng have improved growing
fruits and vegetables thanks to a training facilitated by the Taiwan Technical Mis-sion in partnership with vari-ous government agencies including NARI, in 2016.
The fruits of these farmers’ efforts were showca sed dur-ing a mini vegetable field day staged at Mumeng local level government area, Bu-lolo district on November 23. NARI was present to witness apart from Fre sh P ro d u ce De ve lo pm e nt Agency, Department of Ag-riculture (DAL), and Live-stock, Mumeng district, Nauti Kwembu Winima (NKW) and other service providers.
Such field activities between Taiwan Mission and NARI is not new as both organisa-tions have been engaged in various farmer training and outreach activities in previ-ous years. The field day was able to showca se vari-ous vegetables and fruits such as Chinese cabbages, lettuce, eggplant, water-melon and cucumber. Jeff Tsou, team leader of ICDF said the field day was aimed at seeing farmers interact and share ideas in agricul-tural production.
Mr Tsou said farmers who had undergone training at its training centre in Erap should take back skil ls they have learnt and share them with other farmers in order improve their livelihoods by growing high in demand vegetables and selling them to earn a living. Farmers in Mumeng were encouraged to continue growing vegeta-bles in order to meet the current demand for vegeta-bles while statutory agen-cies/departments as FPDA, NARI, DAL, and private sec-tor players l ike NKW Fresh Produce who pledged their support to work closely with the farmers.
NARI has works closely with ICDF on rice farmer-trainings among other com-munity related engage-
ments and hopes such part-nership will bring about positive outcomes for the rural farming communities.
Theory to practice for Mumeng vegetable farmers
Disp lay of various vegetab les grown in Mumeng
ICDF Team Leader Jeff Tsou with one farmer at Mumeng during the mini field day.
NARI partners Child Fund in climate change project
funded by USAID through Child Fund PNG which concluded in October 2017, aimed at assisting locals to prepare and adapt to the likely ef-fects of climate change on food secu-rity. Simon Sangi of NARI said vil-lages there have not had rain re-cently. Access to clean and safe
drinking water has been a challenge for farming and household use. Over 80 farmers from 12 vil lages observed demonstrations of various NARI tech-nologies such as banana bit, yam mini setting and plant derived pesti-cides. Farmers were grateful to learn new farming skills.
T o mitigate the effects of climate change, NARI has partnered
with Child Fund through a food secu-rity project targeting farming commu-nities of Rigo district, Central prov-ince. NARI distributed brochures, Toktoks, posters and planting materi-als during the field day. The project is
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 9
Potato production to be revived in Kabwum
P apua New Guinea’s potato industry was do-
ing well until the outbreak of Potato Late Blight (PLB), a fungal disease in January, 2003.
The PLB epidemic was first reported in Enga and quickly spread to Western Highlands before spreading to other parts of the PNG mainland where potato is grown.
PLB also affected potato production which is the main source of income and food for Kabwum district in Morobe province.
NARI’s High Altitude High-lands Regional Centre in Tambul took lead in the ini-tial assessment of potato production from October 31 to November 03, 2017.
Former Kabwum member and Governor General Bob
Dadae stepped in with a K100, 000 funding support to address the PLB through a potato seed scheme pro-ject with NARI.
Kabwum grew some potato varieties which was evalu-ated by NARI and sought from NARI’s Agricultural Innovations Show in 2013.
PLB caused by a disease (Phytophthora infestans) is considered as one of the most important economic
diseases of the potato in the world and PNG is no differ-ent.
The PLB fungus can rapidly multiply and be spread by wind.
This rapid cycle by the PLB se ve rely crip pled th e K20mill ion potato industry in Papua New Guinea in 2003 with very little hope of reviv-ing the industry because many potato farming com-munities depended only on
one potato variety, Sequoia, which is highly susceptible to PLB.
Apart from reviving potato production, farmers have also been encouraged to venture into inland fish farming as there is also a growing demand for inland fish as well as forming co-operatives as a platform to source funding from govern-ment agencies such as the National Fisheries Authority (NFA).
NFA also accompanied the NARI team to carry out the asse ssment on inland fish farming in Kabwum.
NARI Director General Dr Sergie Bang (centre) having discussion with Kabwum District officials, flanked by NARI and Kabwum district offi-cials.
AIS will be held for two days in 2018
T he annual Agricultural Innovations Show will
be staged in May 2018 over two days. Growing interest by various organisations and sho w pa rticipants prompted the show commit-tee to extend the number of days.
Preparations have already started with the planting of various crops for the dem-onstration plots to ensure they mature in time for the show.
The AIS show committee has set tentative dates to ensure interested corporate o rg a n i sa t i on s, fa rm e r groups, agriculture –based o rg a n i sa t io n s, NGO s, women farmer groups enjoy the extended show period.
Early bookings can be made at the Western Pacific Guesthouse (WPGH) near the AIS area.
Rates for WPGH are; Single rooms at K250 per night, Double (two-beds) rooms at K300 and if those with more than 3 people at K400 per night.
For bookings and reserva-tions you can organise your stay through the following contact details; 478 4000 or 478 4001.
The WPGH is about 25 min-utes from Nadzab Airport and 15 minutes drive into Lae. Laundry, restaurant and multi-television chan-nels are also available.
Western Pacific Guest House
Potato farm
NEW
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 10
Some of our titles Technical Bulletins
Extension Booklet
To fulfill NARI’s mandate and meet information needs of farmers and stakeholders on agricultural re-search and development NARI produces a wide range of publications, including information bulletins, extension booklets and simple leaflets called Tok- Toks. If you would like a copy of any of these publica-tions or a catalogue, contact our Regional Centre information offices. Their contacts are on the back of this newsletter. Visit our website at www.nari.org.pg to get a copy of our publications catalogue.
Two new publications
N ARI released two new publicat ions in Decem-ber 2017.
These are the Information Bulletin Descript ion of Aibika cultivars in PNG and Crop Descriptor List Sweetpotato Passport Information and Minimum Descriptor List.
The Aibika Fact S heet covers the greatest diversity of Ai-bika which occurs in PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Aibika is mostly cult ivated for home consumption and surplus sold for cash income in most local markets.
Aibika like most other green leafy vegetable has rich nutri-tional propert ies such as vita-min A, iron and calcium.
This Information Bullet in is produced to inform our cur-rent and future generations of our ric h inheritance of Ai-bika diversity of our forefa-thers tireless efforts in pre-serving and taking care and passing them on from gen-erat ion to generation. Infor-mation Bullet in No. 19 pre-sents morpholog ical descrip-tion of 44 Aibika landraces, accessions conserved by
NARI in the field bank.
Crop Descriptor List No.4 en-tails sweetpotato as an im-portant staple crop in Papua New Guinea and also a major cash crop in the highlands of PNG. Sweetpotato was most like introduced by Polynesian missionaries. PNG is home to the second largest diversity of sweetpotato varieties.
There are approximately 5, 000 cultivars in PNG. NARI conserves and maintains two gemplasm collections; one, the highland collection held at Highland Regional Centre-Aiyura in Eastern Highlands,
while the lowland collection is held at Islands Regional Cen-tre-Kerevat, East New Britain. Given the wide diversity of sweetpotato in the country it is also important to have a reference point to help distin-guish one accession from the other.
This has brought about the production of the Minimum Descriptor L ist (MDL) which can be used by agric ulture scientists and extension offi-cers to identify accessions.
This has brought about the production of the Minimum Descriptor L ist (MDL) which
can be used by agric ulture scientists and extension offi-cers to identify accessions.
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& Be st Wishes for 2018
From the I&K Team
NEW
Information Bulletin No.19 and Crop Descriptor List No.4
Workshop Proceedings
NOTICE
to
STAFF
We’d appreciate your contributions of events
happening in the respective Regional Centres in the
next issue of NARI Nius. This can be about scheduled training, field days, village
extension or project activities, etc. We look
forward to your contributions.
Human resource
Departure
Dr Norah Omot-with APAARI, Thailand
NARI Nius, Volume 20, Issue 4 Page 11
Placements & Transfers
Mr Raywin Ovah as Project Economist to TADEP Sweet-potato Project
Mr Gend Bagle as Field Su-pervisor, MHRC Aiyura
Anton Jonah-Research Asso-ciate, HRC Tambul
Studies
Mr Cyril Atung-continues MSc Degree, Massey University, New Zealand
Godfrey Hannett-continuing BARD degree, UNITECH
2017 in
pictures Cadetship Program
Ms Clementine Sesega has submitted her final cadet-ship
RESEARCH CENTRE’S CONTACTS
Head Office Kana Aburu Haus-Sir Alkan Tololo Research Centre PO Box 4415 LAE, Morobe Province Ph: 478 4000 Fax: 475 1450
We’re on the web
www.nari.org.pg
Working Towards Prosperous PNG Agricultural Communities
Momase Regional Centre, Bubia Sir Alkan Tololo Research Centre P.O Box 1639 LAE, Morobe Province Ph: 475 1033/90 Fax: 475 1034 Email: [email protected]
Momase Regional Centre, Labu Sir Alkan Tololo Research Centre P.O. Box 1639 LAE, Morobe Province Ph: 475 1066 Fax: 475 1248 Email: [email protected]
Islands Regional Centre, Keravat P.O. Box 204 KOKOPO, East New Britain Province Ph: 983 9145/9200 Fax: 983 9129 Email: [email protected]
Southern Regional Centre, Laloki P.O. Box 1828 PORT MORESBY National Capital Distr ict Ph: 328 1015/323 5511 Fax: 323 4733 Email: [email protected]
Highlands Regional Centre, Aiyura P.O. Box 384 KAINANTU Eastern Highlands Province Ph: 537 3500 Fax: 537 3516
Highlands Regional Centre, Tambul P.O. Box 120 MT HAGEN, Western Highlands Province Ph: 542 3443/ 275 5131/ 275 5130Fax: 542 2779
Southern Regional Centre, Kilakila Chemistry Laboratory P.O. Box 8277 BOROKO National Capital Distr ict Ph: 321 2690 Fax: 320 2411 Email: [email protected]
National Agricultural R esearch Insti tute, Head Office, Kana Aburu Haus, Sir Alkan Tololo Research Centre, I nformation and Knowledge Programme, PO Box 4415, L AE, Morobe Prov-ince. Papua New Guinea. T el: (675) 478 4000, Fax: (675) 475 1450, Email: naripng@ nari.org.pg
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NARI Nius is published quarterly by the Information and Knowledge Programme Editor: Barbara Tomi Contributions : NARI Staff Distribution: Kumaino Wioga
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