By Johnson T. WETEPIA
Sales & Marketing Manager, Radho Piggery
Its five weeks now after only state-owned
abattoir in the Southern region was closed down due to financial constrains.
This has severely affected the only three cattle and piggery farmers in the
region that use the abattoir.
The 3 affected livestock companies are
the only companies in the Southern Region that supply fresh meat to the shop
outlets in the National Capital District and Central Provinces.
Radho Piggery Managing Director, Robert
Rasaka said his company sells about 100 to 200 pigs in a week to different
supermarkets in the city and Central Province alone. He said, however, the closure
of the abattoir has resulted in the loss of business as hundreds of thousands
of kina are spent on feeds, labor, electricity, and other running costs of the
business.
Similar sentiments were made by
Koitaki Limited, a company specializes in cattle farming and Boroma Piggery
Limited located along Sogeri Road, Central Province.
They collectively call on the
national government under responsible authorities to reopen the abattoir so they
could not have further damages to their businesses.
They also called on the government
for a public private partnership deal over the state-owned abattoir located at
12 Mile, Sogeri Road, to avoid similar funding issues/constrains in the near
future. They said if the government is
critical about promoting Small to Medium Enterprises in the country, then such
issues should not be overlooked as it severely affects the local businesses.
Negligence and failure to act
promptly by the responsible government authorities may result in the loss of
business in these SMEs.
If PNG has to move forward reducing
high unemployment and poverty rates, funding and supporting SMEs by the
national government is the paramount importance. This will in turn help improve
the economy of the country in many years to come.
