Dr. Murom Banabas
Head of Agronomy
Dr Murom Banabas is the Head of Agronomy and has been since 2011. He leads a dedicated team that manages the agronomy program across all major oil palm growing areas in PNG. In the past, he has also managed the agronomy component of smallholder research program which involved training of extension officers and smallholder farmers in best management practices. He has also managed and participated on collaborative soils and nutrition studies with outside organisations. In addition to oil palm agronomy, he also managed a food security study which looked at intercropping food crops with oil palm.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from PNG University of Technology in 1990, Murom joined NGIP cocoa plantations in Rabaul as a trainee manager in 1991, but left and joined PNGOPRA as an assistant agronomist in 1992 and has been with the organisation since. He is married with four children, three of which are living their own lives now. He spend most of his working life in Popondetta and was transferred to Dami in 2013.
While with PNGOPRA, from 1995 to 1997, he did his Masters in Soils Science at Massey University in NZ looking at Phosphorus nutrition of oil palm in PNG volcanic soils. Then in 2003-2007, he did his PhD study looking into the fate of nitrogen fertilisers in oil palm systems in PNG soils, again at Massey University in New Zealand.