Intro: Farmer acknowledges inclusiveness in Livestock Policy drafting

A farmer and coordinator of youth corporative societies for agriculture in Oro province has expressed immense gratitude for the inclusion of farmers and villagers in high-end collaborative consultation workshops.

Mr. Alex Paumbari, representing 5 youth corporative societies in Oro province, shared his appreciation during the final stakeholder consultative workshop in Port Moresby for the Southern region on Monday, 16 June 2025.

The workshop was established purposely for collective dialogue between LDC and Department of Agriculture and key stakeholders including the provincial livestock officers from all provinces in the Southern Region, private sector and farmers to gauge their views and input as well as their challenges in the livestock industry. These findings, together with existing data, will contribute to the National Livestock Policy (draft), which will be the basis of the formulation of the livestock industry legislation as directed by the Prime Minister in 2020.

Mr. Paumbari noted that this was his first time attending such an important meeting and commended the government and especially the Livestock Development Corporation (LDC) and Department of Agriculture (DoA), adding that it is the people on the ground that will provide firsthand information which will be very impactful in creating such an important policy framework.

Mr. Paumbari acknowledged the initiative taken to create the policy framework, which he described as a beacon of light that will bring the livestock industry to greener pastures. He added that this policy framework would tremendously contribute to providing better development strategies for the livestock industry and Papua New Guineans, especially farmers and villagers who make up 80 percent of PNG’s population, and who are heavily involved in livestock and subsistence farming.

In the meantime, LDC Managing Director Terry Koim acknowledged all in attendance and shared how important each of them played a role as stakeholders in the development and growth of the livestock industry,

MD Koim went on to briefly share LDC’s history, stating that PNG has been operating in a policy and legislative vacuum since independence, which forced the industry’s growth to stagnate. This has resulted in PNG continuing to import meat at the cost of K900 Million annually.

“LDC has been around for more than 40 years, first being created in 1982 with the mandate to generate revenue for the state by commercial beef cattle production through its ranches and abattoir, however in September 2014, LDC’s remaining ranches and abattoirs were shut down by the then government of the day. LDC was parked as a program under the then Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) now Department of Agriculture (DoA) from 2014 to 2019”, he said.

It was not until late 2020 that key developments started progressing albeit at a slow pace; these notable developments include

• 22nd October 2020 – Appointment of the new board and management team through the portfolio minister’s office as published in National Gazette No. G 690

• 31st August 2022 – creation of Ministry for Livestock with appointment of Hon. Sekie Agisa MP as Minister for Livestock

• 13th March 2023 – Restructure of LDC to transition into becoming Livestock Industry Authority with statutory powers to regulate the livestock industry.

• May – June 2025 – Livestock formulation to provide the basis for legislation to create the livestock industry Authority.

The Livestock Development Corporation, in collaboration with the Agriculture Department, will now be preparing for the validation process of this first ever livestock policy framework in July 2025. This draft policy will then be tabled before the NEC for approval and further action.

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PC: Alex Paumbari – Farmer and youth representative from Oro province.