Rural cocoa farmers in East Sepik no longer need to walk around town checking buyer after buyer to compare prices. FAO, through the EU-STREIT PNG Programme and the Cocoa Board of PNG, has set up two outdoor digital screens, in Wewak and Maprik, that post daily buying prices in one place. 

In Wosera-Gawi, the EU-STREIT PNG Programme has helped turn one district officer's field experience into a lasting local system. Beyond the Programme's direct support, Angela Gossiba and the community advocates she trained are helping farming families plan together, manage cash-crop income, and invest in family and community priorities.  

Nancy Fale's family grew vanilla for nearly 30 years, through a boom that lifted them and a collapse that pushed many farmers away from the crop. Now, with support from the EU-STREIT PNG Programme, she is rebuilding the business and bringing other women in East Sepik with her. 

Sepik farmers and commodity producers have learned about a dedicated loan product as part of efforts to help them plan for business continuity beyond direct EU-STREIT PNG Programme support. 

With practical training in fish handling, better equipment and improved storage, one coastal fishing group in West Sepik is catching more, reducing losses and using its income to support family needs and sustainable business. 

Four Thai vanilla scientists visited Papua New Guinea’s Sepik region to exchange technical knowledge with local farmers and learn from their field experience. Facilitated by the EU-STREIT PNG Programme, the visit forms part of wider South-South cooperation efforts to strengthen PNG’s vanilla sector. 

A smaller bag on the morning walk points to a wider change underway in Sepik, where a farmer-led cooperative is improving cocoa quality and building stronger market connections, giving farming families another reliable source of income alongside their other livelihood activities.