BY SAMIE WAIKORI
A great news for taro farmers in Malaita province, as Goshen Enterprise Limited will resume taro-buying service for Malaita farmers next week.
This is after the long-awaited arrival of the industrial-grade taro processing machines at its Adaliua Packhouse, near Auki town in Malaita province, which will now enable processing of taro products for market.
A milestone for taro industry in Malaita and the country. And the recent arrival of machineries for the Taro Packhouse will eventually achieve its ultimate objective to commercialise taro products in the country.
And it happens almost two years after the Taro Packhouse project was built and handed over. Now, it’s ready to roll.
The Taro Packhouse cost $1.5 million and was fully funded by World Trade Organization’s Enhanced Integrated Framework Programme or EIF program through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET) in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL).
The EIF is a multi-donor programme, which supports Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to be more active players in the global trading system by helping them address their supply-side constraints to trade.
The Taro Pack House was second to develop under MFAET and MAL through the same funding arrangement. The Guadalcanal Pack House it is for cassava.
A statement from Goshen Enterprise Limited highlighted this development marks a major milestone for the local agribusiness and its network of out growers, addressing previous operational delays and paving the way for increased production.
It noted for years, Goshen Enterprise has been a crucial market for taro farmers in Malaita, purchasing their produce for both domestic and eventual export markets.
The statement added the company has invested significantly in the taro industry, establishing a taro farm in Adaliua and building a packhouse with government and donor support to scale up operations.
However, it said the packhouse remained inactive due to incomplete infrastructure and missing equipment, leading to frustration among farmers.
The statement highlighted that the arrival of the new machinery is expected to resolve a key bottleneck in the production process, which will be a boost for taro farmers.
It added the equipment, which includes taro washers, cutters, stainless steel benches, and sealers, will replace the manual, labour-intensive method previously used by the company.
Noted that this will significantly boost efficiency, allowing Goshen to increase its processing capacity and meet the rising demand for frozen taro products.
“We are incredibly pleased to see the machinery finally in place,” said a Goshen Enterprise spokesperson.
“This means we can move forward with our plans to ramp up production and provide a reliable market for our hardworking taro farmers,” according to the statement.
The company currently works with a network of taro farmer associations across the province, with plans to expand its supplier network to over 480 households.
The resumption of regular buying will be a welcome relief for these farmers, who can now count on a consistent market for their harvests.