Bogia Co-operative Society

Bogia Cooperative exports

By Patrick Matbob

 As steel bins laden with copra disappeared into the massive hull of Bankliner MV Speybank, three men watching nearby felt a deep sense of pride and satisfaction.



Bogia Cooperative first export being loaded

Savoring every moment was the founder of Bogia Cooperative Society Peter Muriki, the Society’s president John Wauru and his deputy James Meangarum. They were exporting their first 50 tonnes of copra from Madang Province in PNG to Europe.

While the export quantity was small, it marked a significant beginning for the people of Bogia District who live on the northern coast of the country. They will now produce and export their own copra and have secured a commitment to export to Europe each month.

It was a big step to move into the export business, which had been dominated and dictated by few privileged companies and individuals in PNG.

The deregulation of the copra industry had given the Society the opportunity to get an export licence. It now guaranteed Bogia people money in export dollars for their copra produce.

Mr Muriki said: “We are operating as a co-operative and our drive is to get everybody to benefit from their resources.

He said the Society was not to profit individuals, but to spread wealth among all members.

Bogia Co-operative became the first society to be registered in PNG under the new Co-operative Society Act recently passed by the country’s Parliament. Before Independence, co-operative societies were encouraged by Australian colonial administration and flourished in the country but disappeared soon after.

The 50 tonnes of copra which was bought by L M Fischel in United Kingdom was produced by some of society’s 1000 members on Manam Island and Bogia mainland area.

Bogia is a major copra and cocoa producing district of Madang province that had been hit hard by the effects of poor commodity prices on the world market as well as the collapse of the PNG Copra Marketing Board (CMB).

Many of the small growers lived in isolated villages on the volcanic Manam Island and along Ramu River and faced huge transport costs to bring their copra 200 kilometres to Madang to sell.

These people who had relied on copra for generations to pay for their education, health and basic needs, felt for the first time the hopelessness of not being able to earn an income.

Added to the problem was the deterioration of feeder road network that linked populous rural interiors with the Madang/Bogia Highway. Ironically, the highway is one of the best in the country yet people could only gain access to it by walking.

This was the situation that confronted Manam Islander and former senior accountant with PNG’s Mineral Resources Development Corporation Peter Muriki who quit his job in Port Moresby to return home to Bogia a few years ago.

He was disturbed to see that the people had the produce to earn money, but simply could not get them out for sale. As a result they had no money for their children’s education and for basic goods such as kerosene, soap and salt.

“If people are poor, then the country is poor,” Mr Muriki said.

Rather than asking for handouts from the government, he wanted the Bogia people to find ways to prevent the growing poverty in the villages.

“We don’t believe in handouts and begging mentality.

“We want to enforce self-reliance,” he said.

He began promoting the idea of a cooperative society to the people on Manam and on Bogia mainland. However, it was not easy and there were many skeptics. In the past some individuals had come with similar ideas to help the people only to disappear again with the people’s money.

He registered the society and while full membership was set at K100 per person, he allowed members to start paying whatever amounts they could afford – some as low as 50 toea.

The society elected its inaugural president, John Wauru, who is a retired agriculture teacher and his deputy, James Meangarum, was pioneer member for Bogia in PNG’s first Parliament.

An export licence was granted to the Society at the end of last year. With money raised from membership fees, it began buying copra from members in Bogia and negotiated with overseas buyer, L M Fischel.

People in Bogia and Manam received full price for their copra and only K10 was deducted per bag for transportation costs to Madang town. This arrangement suited the small growers because they did not have to worry about transportation and related costs.

Mr Muriki said Society members benefit by being assured a better price for their produce and get paid dividends as well.

“If you sell to a middleman you don’t get extra benefits.”

The other benefit is that money comes straight into the villages and circulates in the district.

The society owes a lot to the expertise of former deputy general manager of PNG’s Copra Marketing Board (CMB), Bill Nohou and former CMB branch manager Joe Rupunae who brought with them 37 years of industry experience into the society. They were crucial in organising the export.

The executives used their own resources such as money, transport, office, computers and communication facilities to do the work of the society.

“We are all doing this as volunteers because we want to help our people,” said Mr Muriki.

“We are trying to bridge the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ and reduce the poverty gap.

He said the PNG government is talking about an export driven economy.

“We are trying to help the government achieve this policy.

“If you have land then there is no reason to be poor – unless you’re lazy,” he said.

ends