NMCA and DAL Join Forces to Improve PNG Agriculture Funding Accountability

Government investment in PNG’s agriculture sector is set to receive closer monitoring following a new three-year agreement between the National Monitoring and Coordination Authority (NMCA) and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL).

The partnership will focus on strengthening coordination among public institutions, improving the management of development programmes and ensuring funds allocated to agriculture produce tangible benefits for communities.

 NMCA and DAL Join Forces to Improve PNG Agriculture Funding Accountability

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed yesterday in Port Moresby by NMCA chief executive officer David Wereh and DAL Secretary Dr Sergie Kopen Bang at Melanesian Haus.

The arrangement comes amid concerns that government departments, provincial administrations and agricultural organisations have often pursued development activities separately, affecting the connection between planning and delivery.

Mr Wereh said NMCA’s responsibility was to work with government institutions to ensure development activities were coordinated and properly monitored.

“NMCA has got a big part to play in trying to bring that coordinated approach to doing development in the country,” he said.

He said reviews of publicly funded projects had exposed governance and management problems that needed to be addressed to improve accountability.

The NMCA chief executive said the agreement would strengthen oversight of funding, ensuring money was directed towards approved activities, beneficiaries received payments and projects delivered results.

Dr Bang said the agriculture sector depended on wider cooperation to achieve its development goals, particularly with government agencies, businesses and development partners.

He said the objectives set out in the Medium Term Development Plan IV required a collective approach rather than individual institutions working independently.

“These development outcomes, as I explained in the Medium Term Development Plan IV, we cannot achieve on our own. We need all of the key government departments, the private sector and everyone to be working together,” he said.

He said a coordinated approach would support increased food production, employment opportunities, better household earnings and efforts to reduce malnutrition in rural areas.

The two agencies will follow an agreed workplan and regularly review implementation to determine progress and strengthen delivery.

The signing represents NMCA’s first formal MoU with a government department.