Papua New Guinea Cocoa Growers and Rural Youth Get a Ten-Year Plan to Process More Beans at Home

The Cocoa Board of Papua New Guinea has launched its cocoa industry strategic plan 2026-2035, setting a goal of 100,000 metric tonnes of exports by 2035, up from about 60,000 tonnes now. The plan was launched in Port Moresby alongside Agriculture Minister John Boito, and it was presented as part of a push to create up to one million jobs through farming and local processing. That million-job figure is not a cocoa target on its own. It is the government's goal of one million new jobs by 2027 across the whole economy. For Metaintro readers, the story worth following is smaller and more concrete, namely what the plan asks of the growers, graders, nursery hands and small processors who would do the work. Here is what the plan and the government papers behind it actually say.

What Did the Cocoa Board Launch, and What Is New?

The new document is a ten-year industry plan. It covers six thematic priority areas, namely research and development, market access and trade development, quality standards and compliance, farmer empowerment and knowledge transfer, an enabling environment with governance and institutional strengthening, and finance, investment and sustainability.

It replaces an older plan. The previous Cocoa Industry Strategic Plan ran from 2016 to 2025, and work on the next one was already under way two years ago, when the United Nations Development Programme advertised for a national consultant to develop the new plan in October 2024.

It also follows a shorter document. In April, the board launched a Corporate Plan for 2026 to 2028 in Kokopo. In its chief executive's words, the industry had never had a corporate plan to operationalize our strategic plan.

The target is now an export goal with a later date. At the April launch, the agriculture minister put the board's aim at raising production to 100,000 metric tonnes by 2030. The new plan sets 100,000 tonnes of exports by 2035, a later date than the one used in April.

Where Does the One Million Jobs Figure Come From?

It comes from the government's national development plan, not from the cocoa plan. The Medium Term Development Plan IV aims to grow the economy towards a K200 billion target by 2030 and to create one million new jobs by 2027.

The same plan breaks that goal down by sector, and farm crops are only one part of it. Its jobs table projects a minimum of 50,000 jobs from agriculture commodities, a line that groups coffee, cocoa, coconut, spices and rubber together. Oil palm has its own line of 8,000 projected jobs, and fresh produce has another 50,000.

At the launch, a deputy secretary of the Department of National Planning and Monitoring linked the target to spending. His view was that the projected one million jobs depend on directing funding to specific farm industries. Cocoa is one contributor to that national goal, and the national plan's own table puts a minimum of 50,000 jobs against the crop group that includes cocoa.

Who Actually Grows Papua New Guinea's Cocoa?

Smallholders do. In the national plan, village growers produce 96% of the country's cocoa beans, with plantations producing the rest. At the April 2026 corporate plan launch, the national planning secretary described cocoa as supporting more than 100,000 smallholder farmers and about 151,000 households across 14 cocoa-growing provinces.

Much of the money reaches those households directly, and in the minister's account a significant share of this income flowed directly to smallholder farmers last year. A trade project run with the board since 2018 put the share of cocoa income, in its project background, going straight to smallholder growers at between 70% and 80%. The minister pointed to growing areas such as East Sepik, East New Britain, Bougainville, Madang and Oro, where cocoa has become a reliable source of income.

The crop is spreading. In April, the board's chief executive put its reach at 22 provinces and expanding, and in 2025 he described cocoa being planted in the highlands of Chimbu, the savannahs of Gulf and the mountains of Hela.

The sector is not huge by global standards. At the same April launch, the planning secretary put Papua New Guinea at about one percent of the global cocoa market, but it is known for fine-flavour beans that sell into premium markets. In the agriculture minister's figures at the launch, output last year was 61,000 tonnes, worth around K1.8 billion in exports.

When cocoa production improves, the benefits are felt quickly at the household level, according to the minister's remarks at the launch.

Why Is Local Processing the Heart of the Plan?

Because almost all of the crop leaves the country as raw beans. In 2021, of 37,367 tonnes of cocoa produced, 36,600 tonnes were exported and only 2% was processed domestically. The board's chief executive made the same point in 2025, arguing that the country should not be exporting raw beans while importing chocolate.

The new plan puts a number on the fix. It aims to increase onshore processing of cocoa semi-processed products from five percent to 15 percent.

Some of that capacity already exists. In August, the Queen Emma Chocolate factory in Port Moresby opened upgraded equipment worth USD 2.8 million across twelve types of machinery, which its operator Paradise Foods expects to double output. Farmer groups in the Sepik have been linked directly to that factory and have begun supplying it with quality dried beans, in the tens of tonnes so far.

The national plan also counts processing sites. Its cocoa table sets yearly targets for downstream processing facilities, with five facilities for 2027, and its yearly counts of cocoa small businesses and cooperatives supported rise to 60 each in 2027. In The Write Stuff PNG's 2025 account, the government's target of 18 major processing facilities by 2027 may be ambitious. The board's chief executive said smaller projects involving youth groups, women's cooperatives and SMEs could deliver local impact more quickly.

What Does the Plan Ask of Farmers on the Ground?

More cocoa from the same land. Under the plan, average smallholder yields must rise from between 600kg and 800kg per hectare to between 1,000 and 1,500kg.

The minister set out the problems the sector still faces. His list at the launch was that many cocoa blocks are ageing or poorly maintained, productivity is below potential and quality is inconsistent. The fixes he named are practical ones:

• rehabilitating existing farms and planting improved varieties
• strengthening extension services, the field advisers who train growers
• improving fermentation and drying
• building stronger cooperatives
• opening access to premium markets that reward quality

Each of those is work that needs skilled hands. By August 2026, a European Union programme in the Sepik had trained some 19,400 cocoa farmers in bud grafting, pest and disease management, block management and post-harvest handling. By then the same programme had planted 3.4 million pest-tolerant cocoa seedlings and rehabilitated 4,960 hectares of cocoa blocks.

What Jobs and Skills Sit Behind the Targets?

The launch coverage gives no cocoa-specific jobs count, so it is more useful to look at the roles its targets depend on. The national plan sets a goal of 2.6 million cocoa seedlings distributed each year and a target of 26 regional, provincial and district nurseries, which means nursery and propagation work.

Quality control is another skill the targets depend on. In 2025, the board was training certified quality assessors and licensing fermentaries so that beans meet the standards of premium and specialty markets, including Europe. By August 2026, the EU programme had upgraded 500 cocoa dryers and introduced 100 solar combination dryers, and it was establishing 120 cocoa storage facilities.

Research and data work are also in the plan. The plan calls for national and regional research and development hubs and digital extension platforms, and the minister named research, data systems and extension as critical to meeting new market rules.

Then there is business. By August 2026, the EU programme had supported the formalisation of 363 cocoa agribusinesses.

How Does the Plan Include Young People and Women?

The plan names them directly. One of its goals is to empower 50 percent participation of women and youth in cooperatives.

The planning department sees agriculture as a way to absorb new workers. At the launch, its deputy secretary argued that stronger commodity industries, local factories and value addition would help absorb school leavers and rural youth into farming and manufacturing. Farming is already a vital source of livelihood for more than 80 percent of the rural population.

Young people weighing a working life at home can read how rural youth elsewhere are choosing not to migrate for work.

We want to increase onshore processing of cocoa semi-processed products from five per cent to 15 per cent, according to the Cocoa Board's chief executive at the launch.

Why Do European Rules Matter to a PNG Cocoa Grower?

Because the European Union has new proof rules for cocoa sold there. Under the EU deforestation regulation, any operator or trader placing cocoa on the European market must be able to prove it does not originate from recently deforested land. The rules apply to large and medium operators from 30 December 2026 and to micro and small operators from 30 June 2027.

The PNG plan aims for full compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation through digital traceability. In 2025, the board's chief executive argued that to enter the European market the industry must be able to verify its product from tree to export. The minister described compliance as necessary to maintain access to premium markets, while noting that it creates additional work.

He also called EUDR compliance a gateway to premium markets, and the plan addresses it.

What Stands in the Way?

Rules, roads and money. In 2025, the board's chief executive described a sector running on laws dating back to 1981, with no formal review of its enabling Act since 1991. The new plan promises a modernised regulatory framework, including an updated Cocoa Act.

Staffing is another gap. In 2025, the chief executive said most of the board's staff were not on the government payroll and were paid from donor projects, district grants or programme budgets.

In 2025, the chief executive called freight a major bottleneck. In remote areas, he pointed out, there are no roads and no jetties to move cocoa to market. The national plan carries a cocoa freight subsidy and lists 130 kilometres of cocoa access roads upgraded and sealed in 2027, the last year of a rising yearly target.

Public money is the last piece. The board's chairman put government spending on cocoa through the Public Investment Program at K74 million between 2020 and 2025. In the minister's view, provincial and district administrations have a key role to play, particularly in co-investing in infrastructure, extension services and local coordination.

What This Means for Rural Workers and Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

Our take is that this is a real plan with measurable targets, and the million-jobs figure belongs to the whole economy rather than to cocoa alone. The national plan's own table gives a projected minimum of 50,000 jobs, shared by several crops including cocoa and coffee. In the minister's words, the true success of the plan lies in the tangible return of the farm gate, so yields, processing share and farm-gate prices are the numbers to watch.

The more useful signal is where the work is heading. The new plan sets a move from five to 15 percent onshore processing, and the planning department's deputy secretary linked local factories and value addition to absorbing school leavers and rural youth into farming and manufacturing.

Here is what we would do as a grower or young worker in a cocoa province:

• Learn grafting and nursery work. The national plan's cocoa strategy includes regional budwood gardens, seed gardens and nurseries, and a programme in the Sepik had trained some 19,400 farmers in bud grafting by August 2026.
• Get close to quality. In 2025, the board flagged farmers skipping fermentation or drying improperly, and it was training certified quality assessors to meet premium market standards.
• Join or form a cooperative. The plan wants women and youth to make up half of cooperative participation, so cooperatives are where that target applies.
• Keep records now. Under the EU deforestation rules, cocoa sold in Europe must be proven not to come from recently deforested land, and the board wants PNG cocoa verified from tree to export.
• Look at processing work. The plan wants onshore processing to rise to 15 percent, and a strong manufacturing resume helps if you are aiming for a plant job.

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People Also Asked

Q: Does Papua New Guinea's cocoa plan create one million jobs?

A: No, the one million figure is the government's economy-wide goal of one million new jobs by 2027, and the cocoa plan is one contributor to it rather than the source of all those jobs.

Q: What are the main targets of the Cocoa Industry Strategic Plan?

A: The plan aims for 100,000 tonnes of exports by 2035, higher smallholder yields, a larger share of beans processed at home and full compliance with European deforestation rules.

Q: How many households depend on cocoa in Papua New Guinea?

A: At the April 2026 corporate plan launch, the national planning secretary described cocoa as supporting about 151,000 households and more than 100,000 smallholder farmers across 14 cocoa-growing provinces.

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