Vendors Decry Proposed Ban on Betelnut Sales

Petero Sirvese is one of thousands of Port Moresby city residents who thrive on Papua New Guinea’s infamous “drug” of choice and occasional aphrodisiac, the humble betel nut.  

And he is likely to become one of the thousands who will be “out of work” should the city’s municipal authority succeed in its endeavor to ban sale of the nut within city limits.

Sirvese’s day revolves around the unassuming nut, waking up at when the day is still in its infant stages and going for a brisk 10 minute walk down to Gerehu’s version of the World Trade Center.

At this bustling 24 hour trading post, Sirvese packs into a scrum of heaving and pushing players working their way towards bags of betel nut, jealously guarded by their owners. 

Hands are thrust forward, calls of figures ranging from a low of K50 to as much as K300 can be heard echoing in the cold morning air.

“As soon as I secure a 10kg bag of buai, I head straight back home to have the nuts thoroughly washed and cleaned, “Sirvese relates.

The cleaned nuts are then neatly aligned on an old (and previously much loved) study desk which had been converted into a buai vending table. This is strategically placed near Sirvese’s residential gate, and the day’s retail trade is about to begin in earnest.

Breakfast and lunch meals for Sirvese are taken no more than 20 meters from his trading post. Dinner will be indoors if the day’s sales prove to be brisk enough to see him end his selling at 3pm or thereabouts.

Sirvese’s routine, whilst seemingly tedious to some, is repeated by thousands of other buai peddlers throughout the city daily.

The betel nut trade in is perhaps the most prevalent commercial activity in Port Moresby, occurring in just about every pocket of the city imaginable. At all hours of the day. So much so that buai traders would not feel out of place in New York, a city that never sleeps.

Retail sales of buai is not the strict domain of the “otherwise unoccupied”, employment wise. Many single income families use this trade to supplement their incomes for everyday necessities to major expenses such as school fees and hauskrai contributions.

A comprehensive ban on the sale of the nut within city limits is sure to place many families who depend on the sale of the nut in difficult circumstances. 

This proposal has also sparked serious debate in various circles, including the country’s vibrant online community where one commentator stated that the banning is “unrealistic in a society where buai chewers outnumber non buai chewers.

“A ban will see the birth of sophisticated smuggling rackets, similar to drug smuggling. Buai is ‘green gold’ and people will go to extremes in its trade. Stringent regulation is better.”

Other social commentators called for City Hall to seek a solution which caters for both parties, those being of Sirvese and his ilk who rely on betel nut to thrive, and those of Governor Parkop’s similar mindset wanting to see a clean and hygienic capital city.

"I don't know what else i can do to survive in the city if the ban on buai is enforced," lamented Sirvese as news of the impending ban gradually registered with him.