Agriculture director admits availability of eggs is a long-standing problem

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —  With only one local egg farm on island there’s a long-standing problem of insufficient supply of eggs in American Samoa, and that was brought home by the shipping gridlock during the COVID-19 pandemic, ASG Agriculture director Solialealofiotagaloa I. T. Mutini said during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing last Friday

He explained that an agreement with Samoa made at last year’s Atoa o Samoa talks provided an opportunity for him to look at the Independent State to provide eggs.

While the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) has allowed the importation of eggs from Samoa for personal use, the federal agency has prohibited such importation for commercial purposes, Mutini told Senators.

When the issue of the imported eggs from Samoa first surfaced earlier this year — amid complaints that ASG assets including a vehicle was used to deliver the eggs to local vendors, Mutini was off-island, as senators raised concerns over the importation without proper approval of the USDA to ensure they were safe for consumption.

Imported eggs from Samoa have since been halted and Mutini confirmed this to senators during the committee hearing, saying that part of the agreement reached with Samoa following last year’s Atoa o Samoa talks included the important issue to “address food security” in the territory.

He explained that the agreement with Samoa provided an opportunity for him to look at the Independent State to provide eggs, as the territory has been faced with the long-standing problem of insufficient supply of eggs, with only one local farm.

He informed the committee that currently, if the territory missed two container vessels a month bringing in imported goods — including eggs, then the public voiced concerns. But with Samoa near-by, it would be possible to provide shipments right away.

Another important issue that Mutini shared with senators is that the shelf-life of eggs is about 3 to five weeks and by the time the egg shipment arrives via container vessels from off-island, that shelf-life has almost expired. And those are some of the issues Mutini said he looked at during the Atoa o Samoa talks that resulted in the discussions to bring eggs from Samoa, which takes about 8 hours via vessel transport from Apia.

He explained that he visited Samoa four to five times prior to the start of the importation, which was on a trial basis only, to ensure the eggs are safe. He declared that eggs from Samoa are safe and secure for local consumption.

Prior to responding to the committee query about the Samoa eggs, Mutini informed senators that the Senate summons for him to appear was to discuss issues such as the farm subsidy but there was no mention of imported eggs from Samoa. However, he opted to give a response on this important issue and apologized for his department’s shortcomings surrounding the importation of eggs from Samoa that were used for commercial purpose.

Mutini did share an explanation pertaining to the farm subsidy, which he says — according to the budget is to pay employees — not to provide any type of support for farmers. He reminded senators that twice he appeared before the Fono during annual budget discussion and this same issue had been raised.

Sen. Magalei Logovi’i — who is also a farmer — informed the committee that the farm subsidy is controlled by the Governor’s Office under Special Programs.

With the budget subsidy paying Agriculture Department workers, Magalei suggested that the Senate Budget Committee should look into this issue prior to the next annual budget review.

Magalei stressed that the subsidy is to help farmers but again is used to pay Agriculture Department workers and this is an issue that the Senate should look into.

The current FY 2023 Budget shows $100,000 is allocated to “Farm Subsidy Program & Food Safety”.