Keep our youth here to work the land

By Nefertiti Matatia 17 November 2017, 12:00AM

Despite the challenges, Samoa is no doubt still the land of milk and honey.

Talking to the Village Voice team yesterday, Ulisese T. Ioane, he is grateful to be living in Samoa.

But he said we needed to invest in our resources by having young people work on what we have. 

Mr. Ioane said he did not support the idea of our people sending strong young men to work in overseas countries when they could just stay in Samoa and work on our land instead. 

He says people are not patient which is why they always apply for overseas jobs instead of here.

Mr. Ioane says when we work our plantations, it takes five to six months until harvest, which is usually a long period of time and a lot of us need to make money to make it through to the next day.

“It is understandable that it is our nature as human beings that we get impatient and we would end up looking for other ways to earn a living,” he said.

The 57-year-old said we would benefit if we worked our land.

“You can still work our land and earn a living but at the same time you will be able to still spend time with your loved ones instead of going overseas to work where you will be able to receive easy cash but you would not be able to see your family,” he said.

Mr. Ioane said he used to live in Sala’ilua, Savaii, where he used to work in the plantation but despite moving to Vaitele-Fou, he is still able to make a living from his plantation. 

By Nefertiti Matatia 17 November 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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