Work is getting underway in Papua New Guinea this month in FAO’s biggest European Union-funded, single country, UN multi-partner project worldwide.

The EURO 82 million (USD 89 million) FAO-led project “External Action for Support to Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade in Papua New Guinea” (STREIT PNG) will support and strengthen sustainable agricultural chains with emphasis on benefitting rural women and youth in Papua New Guinea.

“FAO’s headquarters, and indeed the FAO Asia-Pacific Regional Office based in Bangkok, has accorded high priority to getting the STREIT PNG programme up and running,” said Tony Bennett, FAO’s Senior Food Systems Officer in the Asia-Pacific region. “We now have a team on the ground in Papua New Guinea, working hand in hand with the Provincial Authorities, local private sector and our UN Partners.”

The five-year programme is being implemented by FAO in partnership with the Government of Papua New Guinea, the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 

After the successful first project steering committee of the programme in February, the project conducted its first cocoa propagation training in March. More than 120 cocoa growers from three districts of East Sepik and one district of the Sandaun Province were taught hands-on practical lessons on budding clones. 5 000 disease-resistant seedlings were distributed.

The links in this article contain more information about the project through its Facebook page.