China hands over Phase Five of Samoa-China Agricultural Technical Aid

Staff Reporters

APIA, SAMOA – 08 DECEMBER 2022: The Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China to Samoa, H.E. Chao Xiaoliang, today handed over technical support to enhance the production capacity of Samoan vegetables, citrus and poultry farmers.

Implemented under Phase Five of the Samoa-China Agricultural Technical Aid Project (SCATAP), the project will also strengthen agricultural extension, build agricultural facilities, provide agricultural machineries and carry out agricultural training for model farmers.

The SCATAP Phase Five supports 58 model farmers with 30 in vegetables, 22 citrus and 6 chicken farmers.  Each vegetable model farmer received 2 x 30 x 6 tunnel houses with irrigation system, 50 trees citrus plantation for citrus farmers and a broiler house of 90 m fence for each chicken farmer.

The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao acknowledged the project, its vision and connection with local farmers that uses China expertise and technology to improve the knowledge and production of small and medium sized farms in Samoa.

China’s Ambassador, H.E. Chao Xiaoliang and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao unveil the Feed Mill project.

The Minister also cautioned the farmers to value and use the project wisely for their own benefit and that of the country.

He said last weeks’ Small Islands Solutions Forum focused on the challenges to food security in the Pacific small islands as access to quality food gets harder with the increase in the cost of Fertilizers, Feed, Fuel and access to Finance. These challenges have been compounded by climate change, the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The Minister emphasized the need for Samoa to rely on its own for food security and he pointed to raising local chicken to ease the reliance on 60 to 70 forty-foot containers of chicken Samoa imports every month.

Part of Phase Five of SCATAP is a small scale feed mill to produce sample feed for poultry, pigs, cattle and fish farms.

Inspecting the Feed Mill.

The Samoa-China Agricultural Technical Aid Project (SCATAP) is based at Nuu with its 20 acres model farm.  Over 12 years, it has facilitated 9 agricultural stations and developed more than 100 model farmers.

It has been upgraded into one of the largest comprehensive demonstration farm in the South Pacific islands assisted by China.

It mainly serves with four functions as base of seed production, display of Chinese agricultural technologies, centre of agricultural training and platform for exchange and cooperation.

There are 12 Chinese experts and 1 assistant working in Samoa under Phase Five of the project.

SCATAP Team Leader, Jim Liu said that the innovative efforts of the Project Team, has significantly increased the vegetable production and farmers income in Samoa.

Some of the 58 model famers now working with the SCATAP project were handed their certificates in this morning’s ceremony.

Samoan famers supplied sufficient vegetables for the Pacific Games Samoa hosted in 2019 and vegetables prices have been stable in the context of the global Food, Fuel, Feed, Fertilizer and Finance crisis the world now faces in 2022.

The tunnel house technology has become the key technology for vegetable production in Samoa.

The free range broiler industry chain including breeder farm, hatchery, brooder house, broiler house and feed mill is developed for the first time in Samoa.

The project livestock biogas recycling technology has been approved as an effective solution for agricultural development and environment protection.

The project has also displayed medium and small agricultural machineries such as tractors, cocoa/coffee roaster, grinder and fodder chopper which are getting more popular.

At the end of todays’ handover ceremony, certificates were distributed to the 58 model farmers now working under Phase Five of the project.