The Samoa Farmers Association President has expressed concern at the Agriculture Sector Plan launched last week by the Government and the importance of setting realistic goals.

Afamasaga Tolefoa has raised concerns at what he sees as Samoa's dependence on produce imported from overseas, and the necessary action taken by the Government and the people of Samoa to shift more towards local produce.

"A lot of the plans and objectives set up for this year requires a large budget and major support. Most of the budget is given to the ministry before making its way to local farmers."

In order to improve on the agriculture sector as well as Samoa's dependency on it, Afamsaga advised that the use of technology and mechanisation will improve this area.

"We must combine the use of modern technology and traditional knowledge to produce really good results especially in this day and age," he said.

"The soil’s health is very important and has to be taken care of, also the commercial use of weedicide contribute to the growth of crops like the taro.

"Over-optimistic targets are always hard to achieve and the current standing of agriculture’s contribution to Samoa's GDP is very low with about 7 to 8 per cent. 

"This makes for many targets to hit where as we can achieve more by attending to each one, one at a time."

By looking at the midterm review on the progress of the newly launched project, Afamsaga said they will be able to see the data of the work done, as well as the necessary improvements to be made to the plan for it to be successful.

"Agriculture is underfunded and we need to use technology to improve one it. better equipment, water supply, and weedicides means better results."

Afamasaga hopes that the Government will create more benefits for farmers so as to discourage them from dropping out of the agricultural sector and to continue to create a future in agriculture.

Currently, Samoa's biggest agricultural commodities planted are niu, koko, ulu, taro, fai and ufi. Recently the koko export market slowly started to pick up while fai export is no longer on the list.

With the use of modern technology, improvements can be made to Samoa's agricultural sector, taking into account the sustainability of supply within the country. By depending on overseas produce, there are lots of risks that follow such as food security. Samoa has a long way to go before it can reach total sustainability of local produce from the local agricultural sector.