PNG National Agricultural Research Institute

The Vanuatu Agricultural Research and Technical Centre (VARTC) in Santo, Vanuatu, has received a 432-egg capacity small poultry egg incubator from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vanuatu on March 28 2013. The incubator will be used to produce village chicks for distribution to participating farmers at three project sites at Siviri and Malafau on Efate and Middlebush on Tanna Islands.

The Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) of Solomon Islands has received a 400-egg capacity small poultry egg incubator from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock on March 19 2013. The incubator will be used to produce village chicks for distribution to participating farmers at three project sites at Aruligho in Guadalcanal Province, Hunda and Kena in Western Province and Buma in Malaita Province.

Stakeholders of a collaborative project on livestock services in PNG deliberated on enhancing capacity building and networking among key players in a bid to address common challenges faced by the subsector and improve livestock production in the country.

A project meeting was held in Lae at the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) on March 14 2013 to identify key issues and finetune project activities.

Smallholder and semi commercial farmers engaged in the monogastric sector (aquaculture, pig and poultry) can improve profitable with the use of locally available feed resources rather than imported ingredients which cost them dearly.

Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) is an important insect pest of rice which farmers will have to live with in PNG but there are control methods, other than insecticides, which farmers can use to reduce the pest’s intensity, a Japanese rice expert told a seminar in Lae on March 6 2013.