Livestock Development Coproration (LDC) is not a regulator.
The Livestock Development Corporation (LDC) is only a ‘player and not a referee’ in the regulatory arena.
He said the completion of the National Livestock Policy will form the basis to do a legislative review to create the Livestock Industry Authority, which will fill that void to regulate the livestock industry.
Koim said there is a great need for the policy to be progressed swiftly as the industry continues to operate in our country without clear guidelines and standards, resulting in excessive dependence on foreign meat imports which continue to drain our foreign reserves. PNG spends almost K1 Billion on imports to the detrimental of our smallholder livestock farmers.
MD Koim said according to available data, PNG spent K9.4 billion for frozen and chilled meat imports from 2012 – 2022. This adds to the ongoing financial burden we are placing on our limited foreign reserves, and LDC is taking proactive steps to addressing this dilemma by setting up the regulatory authority that will take charge of the livestock industry.
Referencing the recent grievances raised by smallholder poultry farmers of no proper market system in place for them, Koim stated that this was also the result of absence of regulations hence reiterating the need for the current Livestock policy and legislative reviews to be concluded.
“Right now LDC as a company is a player, but we are working to set up a regulatory authority that will serve as a referee to regulate the industry. Addressing a Billion Kina meat import deficit cannot be addressed by LDC alone as a company. For PNG to become self-reliant in meat production we must first have the correct policy and regulation in place to ensure that everybody in our country knows where we are and where we are going in livestock.
MD Koim said currently the Department of Agriculture (DoA) being a custodian of all agriculture policy matters is taking the lead in engaging with stakeholders in reviewing this important policy.