Papua New Guinea agricultural supplier Farmset is expanding its physical presence and product lines, as the country’s timber and agribusiness sectors continue to grow.

Farmset is in the business of retailing and wholesaling chemicals and fertilisers, and more recently, machinery to the forestry and agribusiness sectors.

What began in 1969, with the formation of the Farmers’ and Settlers’ Co-operative in the New Guinea Highlands, is now a 100% PNG-owned company with 200 employees, 10 branches, headquarters in Goroka and a distribution network that spreads beyond PNG to other markets in the south-west Pacific.

Farmset’s owner, K K B Kainantu, has itself a large and varied shareholder base, from prominent PNG corporations to smallholders and individuals.

Farmset’s Regional Manager for the Momase region of PNG, Robert Foley, tells Made in PNG that, while Farmset’s business was once entirely with major corporate producers, a much bigger portion is now with local landowners. It is building a new site in Madang and has plans to expand its Lae site. It is also about to begin production of a new animal health product.

While Farmset supplies forklifts, trucks and generators, among many other machinery products, it also offers maintenance and repair services, and provides training to new and lesser-qualified technicians.

This article first published in Made in PNG 2012