Coffee growers will now have the opportunity to save for retirement after the country’s leading Superannuation fund, NASFUND and the Nation’s lead coffee agency, Coffee Industry Corporation Limited entered into a partnership that is intended to form a saving culture for participants.
This is after the signing of an MoU recently by the Fund’s Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Sharma, and CIC General Manager Industry Operations Steven Tumae on behalf of CIC CEO Steven Dambui. Coffee Industry Corporation’s General Manager Mr. Steven Tumae welcomed this MoU and said this is an important step to financially empower coffee farmers in PNG.
“CIC has about 156 registered cooperatives across 17 provinces throughout the country that caters for our farmers. This agreement provides an avenue for our farmers to have access to vital financial services through superannuation.”
He stated that Coffee is a leading source of cash income for a large proportion of the population and continues to be an important commodity for PNG, as almost 85% of the coffee produced in PNG, is grown, harvested and partly process by smallholder growers.
“The CIC team has been collaborating with the Fund’s Team Leader Highlands Region, Priscilla Wambi, to coordinate awareness to our farmers, starting in the Eastern Highlands Province.
The first awareness was conducted in May 2022 at the Makia Community Development Corporative and it was a huge success. It is only fitting to solidify these collaborative efforts under this MoU, and in partnership, plan and roll out financial literacy programs to our farmers across 17 provinces.”
The CIC GM added his belief that their farmers will benefit from the financial services provided by NASFUND and they look forward to cooperating to reach their unbanked rural coffee farmers.
Coffee farmers are expected to benefit from NASFUND services, which included access to their extensive branch network, an online portal to check your superannuation account, and a dedicated call center to answer your queries.
NASFUND will also be providing Financial Literacy education to coffee farmers through the Fund’s partnership with the Center for Financial Inclusion (CEFI), to develop a savings culture through superannuation, so that they can have sufficient retirement savings in the future.