COFFEE COOPERATIVE GROUP EXPORTS TO CHINA

Coffee farmers under the Huwa Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society (HCFCS) of Mt Michael LLG of Lufa District in Eastern Highlands Province have made their first exports of four containers to China late last year and this year. The coffee was exported as Huwa Coffee.

Group Secretary Beni Rame said that these export has brought in K800, 000 in export revenue into the country and for the group, this is another milestone achievement operating as a cooperative group.

The proceeds from the export was distributed to the farmers on Friday, April 12th, 2024 in Lufa District Headquarters.

CIC-PPAP Program Manager Potaisa Hombunaka was pleased to hear this news and congratulated the group for their hard work and commitment, which was demonstrated through this recent sales.

“This is a culmination of what was started off as a “group market” in 2020,” Hombunaka said.

He said in 2020, the group generated K230, 000 in group sales, in 2021 they made K644, 000 and now what has transpired in 2024 is a big achievement for the group. He said the first and second sales were done locally and this is the third sales done as exports through CIC’s Kofi Management Services Ltd.

“I am very pleased and encouraged to see how they have progressed since 2020 as a small cooperative group. They have listened to all advice given to them and utilised well all resources provided to them under the project. Their leaders are to be congratulated for a job well done.”

The cooperative society was formed in December 2018 and formally registered on September 10th 2019. The membership in 2020 was 582 but to date it has increased to 700 members who are from the three Lufa LLGs namely Mt. Michael, Unavi and Yagaria. The group is one of CIC-PACD Lead Partners.

CIC-PACD is a GoPNG agriculture development project mainly for coffee and cocoa with loan funding from the World Bank. Other value chains as spice and small livestock is also funded by the project.