Kokoda Track Foundation
Monday March 3rd, 2008
LAST UPDATED
The Kokoda Spirit At Work in Cyclone-Hit Papua New Guinea
By Patrick Lindsay, KTF Chairman
The Kokoda Track Foundation has announced a $150,000 commitment to create and develop a series of seed nurseries in Papua New Guinea to provide seeds to replace food gardens that were destroyed by Cyclone Guba in November last year.
Cyclone Guba devastated Oro Province in PNG, to the north and north-west of Kokoda, claiming up to 350 lives, leaving 100,000 homeless and destroying the region’s bridges, roads and infrastructure.
Speaking at the annual Ralph Honner Oration Dinner in Sydney on Friday night, KTF Chairman, Patrick Lindsay, said the commitment would come from the proceeds of the Foundation’s Kokoda Cyclone Appeal.
"Our appeal raised more than $200,000. We sent $20,000 worth of emergency medical supplies in with the first choppers into the region. We followed it with another $20,000 in the next weeks. Then, with the help of global courier group, DHL, and Overseas Disaster Resources, we arranged for 15 tonnes of emergency equipment to be delivered to the region," Lindsay said.
"Now the balance of the appeal funds will be used to, initially, set up nurseries in three locations to produce seeds and cuttings for sweet potato, corn, bananas, cabbage, groundnuts, taro, yam, cassava, rice, pumpkins, tapioca, cucumber and other local vegetables."
The first plantings are already underway. The project is being conducted in partnership with the PNG National Agricultural Research Institute, the PNG Department of Agriculture and Livestock, the Oil Palm Industry Co-operative, Higaturu Oil Palms Limited and AROD, the Anglican Response to Oro Disaster.
"We believe this is the most effective way to help those who suffered at the hands of Cyclone Guba, a natural disaster that claimed as many as 350 lives and left up to 100,000 people homeless," Lindsay said.
"Not only will the seeds and cuttings from the nursery enable all the gardens destroyed to be replanted, helping individuals and villages to once again be self-sufficient, it will also allow them to significantly improve the genetics of their crops."
The Foundation’s commitment of $150,000 will fund the project for the first six months. It will then have the option of continuing to underwrite it at a monthly cost of around $5000 until, as hoped, it becomes a going concern bringing long-term benefits to both the nursery and its clientele.