Towards the Government’s drive for communities to take ownership of their agricultural and
fisheries developments, three Talomua events were held consecutively on Friday 24 th and
Saturday 25 th of June, for three different communities in Satapuala, Aleisa Sisifo Women’s
Committee and Magiagi.
On behalf of the Government, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Honourable
Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt thanked the organizing committees of the
three Talomua for successfully hosting their events. The Hon. Minister encouraged the value and
importance of unity within each community and village in order to obtain positive returns from
their planned activities for development.
The Hon. Minister reminded the three communities that as they develop the land for more crops
and livestock to secure a consistent supply of agricultural produce, they should also be aware of
the various pests and diseases with appropriate control measures. He also urged the villages and
communities to support the ongoing efforts by the Ministry to eliminate the Coconut Rhinoceros
Beetle which remains a major threat to our coconut industry, as well as the Black Leaf Streak
disease that continues to affect our banana plantations and the many other pests and diseases that
affect our other major crops including taro.
In the Hon. Minister’s speech in each Talomua, he stated that “As part of the government’s focus
on strengthening agricultural and fisheries developments across the communities in Samoa, a
direct assistance approach of $1 million tala development fund will be made available for the
district development efforts.”
Mr. Vaili Mimita of Satapuala, spoke on behalf of the village and requested the government for
assistance in providing consignments for their crops and harvests for export. He added that the
village are in need of more lands for agricultural developments and have now utilized part of the
government lands in Satapuala for this purpose.
The Aleisa Women’s Committee representative relayed their request for improvements in access
roads within the Aleisa farming areas. She stressed the importance of having proper access roads
as the farming community in the Aleisa area has increased in number and farm sizes throughout
the years.
The last Talomua event was held at Magiagi on Saturday in the afternoon. Mr. Luafau Tulima,
village mayor for Magiagi thanked the government for their support and acknowledged the
initiative of having district Talomua, for it has now enabled more farmers and fishers of various
villages to partake actively and have ownership of their events. Mr.Tulima is one of the many
successful farmers that have been working in collaboration with the Ministry for many years and a
role model for most of the farmers in his village and Samoa.
As part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ assistance for communities and villages which
hosted these events, planting materials as well as farming equipment and tools were provided for
each of the three communities.