A bountiful harvest of oranges in Savai’i has led to farmers descending on Apia in recent days with truckloads of the fruit to sell to city residents.

And due to rising demand, some of the farmers from the big island have reportedly made over $1,000 in less than a week from their sales around Apia.

The early morning inter-island ferry from Savai’i on Wednesday brought over more sellers with their vehicles filled with oranges, hoping to cash in on the increasing demand.

Sano Petelo of Papa Sataua travelled from Savai'i on the morning ferry just so he could get a chance to sell his oranges.

He said that some of their sellers had set up a stall at Lotopa in front of the Frankie Supermarket as well as the Fugalei Market.   

One of the sellers, Atipela Salue of Tufutafoe in Savai'i, thanked the Government for easing the State of Emergency (S.O.E.) restrictions and extending business hours to allow them more time to sell and hopefully make a profit.

“It is because if we don’t sell the oranges in time, the produce will deteriorate,” he told the Samoa Observer. 

According to Mr. Salue, this is a different year for farmers in Savai'i.

“It is because there seems to be an abundance of oranges especially in the Itu-Asau district.”

The majority of the sellers around Apia and neighbouring villages are from the big island of Savai'i. A popular location to find the sellers is at Moto’otua not far from the National Hospital. 

Farani Salasa of Tufutafoe Savai'i was also asked why they picked the location next to the national hospital.

"We believe that eating healthy fruits such as oranges will benefit our people especially those who are sick with COVID-19,” she said. 

Others who were selling at Moto'otua were from Papa Sataua in Savai’i.

Mother Muta Tuna, one of the sellers from Savai’i, said there are plenty of oranges in Savaii, especially Tufutafoe. 

Her family owns a small truck and van that were used to move the oranges to Upolu to sell.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) we made close to a thousand in sales of our oranges but we did not finish all the oranges in the truck,” she said. 

Ms Tuna said they sell five oranges for $5 and she estimates they brought over a thousand oranges from Savai’i. 

“While the [Toyota] Dyna stayed in Upolu, the van will leave on the last ferry today [Wednesday] while they reload oranges and return on Thursday morning.” 

She added that if she estimates the value of all the oranges packed at the back of the mini truck, it would be over $2,000.

“We have a partnership with some of the farmers in Savai’i so they will load the truck and van with oranges from Tufutafoe and we transport it to Upolu.”