PNG Vanilla Company partners Expo2020 Team

By Editorial Team

Managing Director of Kamapim Dr. Nancy Irwin with Deputy Commissioner General Mrs. Jacinta Warakai-Manua.

A vanilla production and export company is partnering with the PNG Expo2020 Team to promote their products in the Dubai World Exposition starting this month October 2021.

KAMAPIM, a company working with landowners in the Madang and Morobe Province produces top quality vanilla beans and is already exporting to the EU market.

The Managing Director of the company Dr. Nancy Irwin, met with the PNG Commissioner General to Expo2020 Ambassador Joshua Kalinoe and his Deputy Mrs. Jacinta Warakai-Manua in Port Moresby before the advance team left for Dubai and firmed up the arrangements.

Dr. Irwin said Kamapim (pidgin for develop and to improve) concentrates its efforts in producing the best quality bean for the international market through quality assurance production methods.

“PNG farmers have the instinctive ability to grow any crops well. When I first started the project, the quality of the beans were poor, full of fungus due to lack of processing knowledge"

She said they saw huge potential of the organically grown beans and started working with landowners through a cooperative production and marketing structure to improve the quality.

“The company provides extension services to farmers and buys the beans directly, ensuring farmers are paid a fair price for their efforts”, she said.

"The beans are tested internationally and are consistently classed as the top-quality A grade level, said Dr Irwin.

“While PNG has a good perception of growing environment friendly organic vanilla beans, the challenge is for the relevant Government authorities to work with farmers to improve quality. I believe the cooperative production methods applied by our company, Kamapim, could be used nationally as one of the models to improve quality for the export market as well as to maximize revenue gain for farmers."

She said the company is looking forward to partnering with the PNG Expo2020 Team to tell the PNG story and to connect with niche importers in Dubai and the Arab world in general.