Nil Nil Man

 

THE PINEAPPLE MAN of KOKOPO

Pineapple: Andersons Foodland Kokopo staff cutting up the pineapple from Valingling’s farm to be sold at the shop.

By FPDA Media and Communication Unit (2019)

Augustine Valiling is 58 years old and hails from Ulagunan Village, a few minutes drive outside of Kokopo, East New Britain.

Augustine was a victim of the Bougainville crisis, leaving his welding apprentice job and fled to Kokopo along with other Papua New Guineans who were affected by the mine closure.

He spent 30 years in the mining industry working for Bougainville Copper Limited, Lihir Gold, Solomon Islands and later ran his own welding shop in Kokopo before working for PNG Water Board, Nivani, Phoenix Construction and finally landed on Lihir Islands before retiring.

Despite his past as a miner and having little knowledge on toiling the land, Augustine made a name for himself as a self-taught pineapple farmer in East New Britain supplying his produce to major buyers in the province and outside.

During breaks from Lihir, he would collect pineapple suckers that were growing wild in the bushes and plant them in the family garden.

He did this for a few years until his garden started expanding as the crop began to bear fruits.

“I saw heaps of vegetables supplied to mines where I used to work and was thinking to myself that I could do this if I had a farm of a certain crop,” he said.

“I used to encourage my family members to grow pineapples although it was not a common crop in Kokopo at the time but I knew there would be market for it someday,” he said.

His own family obliged out of respect as he was also head of the family and bread winner.

Pineapple was not grown anywhere else in large scales as East New Britain people were only accustomed to their copra and cocoa blocks.

“My family members did not know why I was doing this but just complied as instructed,” he said.

From 2007 to 2017 Augustine started planting within which time his wife Rosina started harvesting and selling at the main market in Kokopo.

For Rosina, it was completely a new crop for her to sell and as time passed, pineapple was doing wonders for the Valilings.

Pineapple: (second from right) Valingling, his wife and FPDA Kokopo staff showing off the harvest.

Because pineapple cultivation is non-seasonal, Rosina was able to harvest every week as planting continued.

By 2016, Augustine said his former employer Lihir Mining Company under their catering services came to his farm and started buying.

“Previously they would buy our pineapples from the main Kokopo market but when they learnt that we were a major supplier at the market, they directly came to the farm,” he said.

The Valilings now supply in bulk to Lihir and Andersons Super Markets on a weekly basis selling at K4 per kilo on average earning a reasonable income for the family.

“We have been supplying Andersons since 2016 and while others do copra and cocoa, we do pineapple. To me it is like a free money because with growing pineapple, there is less labour compared with Copra which has a lot of work involved,” he said.

He said back then he was planting a meter apart but that space has been covered by the new shoots leaving no room for weeding and harvesting.

After learning a few skills and training provided by the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) branch in Kokopo, Augustine has now expanded his farm into new locations covering well over 20,000 plants.

He is also supplying seedlings to others who have land and showed interest in the crop.

“If you want to mean business with pineapple, you have to grow up to 20,000 plants so you are able to constantly supply the growing market demands,” he said.

He said after buying a truck to supply his produce to the markets, it was time to expand and do other things to support his family.

Augustine who has retired from mining to take up his new role as a farmer is married to Rosina who supports him daily with their two sons and three daughters, some of whom are in school funded by their pineapple business.

When FPDA officers from head office visited the farm, they discovered that although Augustine was supplying pineapples in bulk to major buyers, he did not have a registered business to easily enable his business transactions.

FPDA Research, Planning and Communication Program Manager Joe Koima assured the Valilings that FPDA would assist them with skills training, book keeping and e-commerce and help them register a business name to operate under.

Koima said this would help them manage their income in an orderly manner and also open doors for the family through a business name to seek assistance from the government, banks and other sources for expansion.

“FPDA is a government entity that can only provide skills training, market sourcing, farm management and value chain and advisory support”, he said.

So far FPDA has been assisting with chemicals, knapsack spray pumps and skills training.

Augustine Valiling is now widely known in Kokopo as the Nil Nil Man for his passion and consistency in growing and supplying pineapples to East New Britain and other markets over the past 10 years.

His truck also named Nil-Nil Juice does pineapple runs to Kokopo in the mornings as a PMV.

“After spending most of my life in the mines, I have now gone back to the land which has kept me and my family going for the past decade,” he said.