Local farmers appeal to community to return to the land and its resources

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — While members of the community are enjoying a lot of financial benefits from the US federal government due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the local farmers have appealed to all families of the community, especially to the unemployed youth, to return to the land and its resources instead of staying idle in their villages waiting for the US ‘freebie’ benefits.

Coming off a very successful Farm Fair this year, that was held at the Veteran’s Memorial Stadium last month, local farmers are feeling the ‘love” from the community with a high interest in buying ‘local-grown’ produce — which includes not only your usual taro & bananas, but also mixed crops such as cucumbers, lemons, Chinese cabbage, as well as sometimes corn, sprouts and watercress. Support from the ASCC land grant and the Department of Agriculture is also a part of the farming community.

Last week, some of the local farmers took the time to share their stories with Samoa News regarding the resources that are hidden on the land of Tutuila and Manu’a and encouraged people to take advantages of the opportunity to become farmers.

One of the local farmers that spoke to the Samoa News last week was Tagaloa Vito, who shared his story as one of the local farmers who has spent over 15 years working on the land. He’s from Iliili and he sells vegetables, taro and bananas to the community.

“I am grateful to the American Samoa Government through the Department of Agriculture (DOA) for getting farmers together and encouraging us to work hard on the land so that we can produce food for the community,” Mr. Vito told Samoa News.

Vito said that one of the things that shocked him when he visited the Fagatogo Market at the beginning of this year was he noticed four Asian farmers selling their crops at the market.

“My hat goes off to these Asian people who are working very hard on our land to produce food for us, however, this is our country and our land and we’re Samoan people, [we] need to make use of the opportunity God gave us.”

“We should not continue to depend on the financial benefits from the United States because there will be a time that the world’s economy falls and it will very hard for us to get anymore financial assistance.”

One farmer from Vaitogi said, “A farmer’s main goal is to produce a good crop and/ or healthy animals in order to make a living and to feed the population. Without food, the world would slowly die, and farmers work hard every day to keep plenty of crops and animal products in the market to keep that from happening.”

A 55-year-old farmer from Pavaiai also shared his story as to why he believes that working on the land to produce food for the community and to earn money for the family is a gift. According to Vanila Pulou, it’s over 20 years since he’s been working as a local farmer to support his family, church and village.

A red taro with its big roots ready to harvest is one of the products that can be farmed locally. Taro and banana blights have caused huge problems in this type of crop, but help from the ASCC Land Grant and the government has allowed new strains to be introduced, as well as environmentally safe chemicals to be used. [photo by AF]

“This is my only source of income to feed my wife and seven children. I decided to return to the land because I see a lot of blessings from God that are hidden in the land and if I don’t work hard, God will never reveal those blessings through my hard work,” Mr. Pulou said.

He added that he has a habit of never asking for help because he is an independent person, however, once he joined the group of other local farmers who work together and share ideas, he see that the door of blessings is open to him.

“I find it there is greater knowledge in learning in a group, in numbers we are more knowledgeable and you don’t feel like you’re alone in the world. Working as a group of local farmers will boost yourself to work hard for something good in the future,” Pulou added.

“Making new friends and fellowship with others that is my greatest gain being part of this group and the continuous learning.

“The care of the land, mother earth provides us with everything but if we are going to use a lot of pesticides [chemicals] we will deplete the nutrients that actually give us health and sustain us.”

Pulou told this reporter that his upbringing always involved working the land.

“We also work the land because it was instilled in us — not only from my grandparents — but also my parents because we grew up with cocoa and coconut farms.  

“I loved running around the plantation and helping pick the crops but because of education I left Samoa at the age of 16, yet the passion was already instilled in me.

“I love being a farmer and when my dad gave me the land in 1996 to work on that’s when I decided to do my best for serve the territory through farming.” Pulou was a painter for 15 years for a private company before he decided to work on his land.

“My children kept urging me to leave work and rest while they take care of me, at first I was undecided but I am thankful for their encouragement.

“The love for our people was always there and you feel that your identity is here. I never felt like the United States was my home, to me it was just a means for me and my children getting somewhere in life. 

“I left my job in 1995 and that’s when I started my plantation. I utilized the land, one area is for cocoa and another for mixed crops, and I use the old methods of farming — the organic side of it.”

He said that his agricultural produce is sold locally.

Local farmers state that lemons are one of the good ‘mix’ crops that makes good money when it’s sold in the local markets and stores. A good living can be made, local farmers tell the community — enough to support your family and provide a healthy lifestyle, while also helping the community stay strong. [photo by AF]

“I am looking at our ancestors farmed in the past because not only they farmed with the seasons, the weather, the moon but I am still learning in that capacity of how our people used to do it. 

“I would love to see the young people of our territory especially the young men who do not have jobs or income take up the passion of farming, I have seen some being idle. 

“If they cannot find jobs there is always the land to go back to at least they can do something for their families.” 

“Asians people are coming in to take advantages of our land while we’re hanging around depending on the benefits from the United States. We need to go back and continue the hard work our ancestors started for us because our land is our gift from God.”

Sakalia Mapu of Alofau said the government needd to improve local agriculture production and assist local farmers with their work. He said that one of the things he wanted to see is the subsidy the government use to give to local farmers to assist them with their production, including pig farming.

“We have a lot of pig farms here in the territory but we don’t have enough support from the government to push forward the production,” Mr. Mapu told Samoa News.

During a House hearing few months ago, DOA Director Solia Iosua Mutini told House faipule that one of the new projects his department is working on is to build a slaughterhouse for pig farmers in the territory.

Solia said that in American Samoa a ‘size 2’ pig is the most coveted size that everyone wants, however, once the pig passes this level, the next move by pig farmers is to use the big pigs for faalavelave.

As the Agriculture Department moves to increase local agriculture production for — among other things - the slaughterhouse, enough taro supply and to ensure food security, faipule said the territory continues to face many difficult challenges due to its remote location and limited natural resources.

There are currently  a total of 104 registers pig farmers currently in the territory and DOA is working together with the local farmers to make sure they have everything they need for pig farming, including trying to revive the pig feed subsidy that would make it cheaper to purchase it, as well as ensuring the safety of the community by making large size pig operations build Dry-Litter facilities.

Dry-Litter systems utilize organic material and waste combined with the composting process to eliminate all waste produced in a pig rearing operation from entering the surrounding environment.

Rep. Vailoata E. Amituana’i, during the House Agriculture Committee hearing, stated that pigs play an important cultural and financial role in American Samoa. Due to the lack of native mammals, and space to raise larger animals, pigs tend to be the protein of choice for many Samoan palettes.

In an aside, Samoa News should point out that the District and the High Court, when passing sentences encouraging convicted individuals to get jobs to pay their court or traffic fees off, and be productive members of society, that farming is specifically mentioned as not acceptable employment. The courts have found that ‘working on a farm’ seems to be an euphemism for “not working”.