About two-thirds of all households in Samoa depend on a mixture of subsistence agriculture and cash cropping . The main export products, in order of importance in the late 1990s were copra (dried coconut flesh), coconut oil, copra meal, coconut cream, and kava (a mildly narcotic drink traditional to the South Pacific). The importance of coconut products is obvious, but unlike many Pacific countries that only export copra, Samoa has added value to these products. For example, coconut cream canned in Samoa is worth several times its equivalent in copra. The vulnerability of dependence on a crop such as coconuts was illustrated when cyclones in 1990 and 1991 caused considerable damage to tree crops.

During the 1980s, Samoa identified an international niche market for taro, a traditional prestige root crop. The taro exported from Samoa was sold mostly to Samoan and other Pacific communities and, in 1992, made up more than one-half of all agricultural exports by value, surpassing the cyclone-depleted coconut products. In 1993, taro blight destroyed the whole crop, however, and by the late 1990s taro production was only beginning to recover.

In recent years, the government and international aid donors have been promoting agricultural diversification. Although there have been small amounts of other food crops exported (such as bananas), the only crop that has generated significant export income is kava, which has recently gained an international reputation as a soothing and therapeutic substance. Other agricultural products currently being promoted include cattle and tropical fruits.

Samoa Farmers Association (SFA)
Location: PO Box 1241, Apia, Samoa
Contact Person: Afamasaga Toleafoa
E-mail: pacific@ipasifika.net

The Samoa Farmers Association began life in 2006 as the Samoa Crops Cooperation Association (SCCA). The name of the association was recently changed to Samoa Farmers Association, to more correctly reflect the spread of its membership and farming interests. SFA’s core business is helping commercially-orientated smallholder farmers to grow their business. This is achieved by providing access to key services, inputs, and technical expertise. SFA is the national implementing agency for Samoa under the MTCP2 project. The SFA has an expanding membership of 300, comprising individual farming families and village groups. There are also a small buy growing number of agribusiness members. The membership is spread throughout the country (Samoa Upolu, Savaii, and Manono islands) and include both crop and livestock producers. Individual farmers do their own buying of farm inputs and selling of farm produce. The role of SFA is to: facilitate contact with suppliers of farm inputs; advise members on availability and quality of farm inputs; arrange, where possible, assistance to help farmers obtain farm inputs; organize events such as farm fairs where farmers may exhibit and market their produce; provide advice on market conditions, requirements, and prices; and facilitate contact with interested buyers.

Women in Business Development Inc.
Location: 2nd Floor, Nia Mall, Fugalei, Apia, SAMOA — PO Box 6591 Apia, SAMOA
Contact Person: Adimaimala Tafunai, Executive Director
Phone: +685 21959
Email: adi@womeninbusiness.ws
Website: www.womeninbusiness.ws

The Women in Business Development Inc . was established in 1991 as the ‘Women in Business Foundation’, initially to meet the needs of urban women by promoting and advancing the economic and business status of the women of Samoa.

Around this time, Samoa suffered back-to-back cyclones that devastated food and cash crops. This was followed in 1993 by a taro leaf blight that completely wiped out Samoa’s staple food and main export product. These challenges motivated the founding group of seven women to reassess their focus and reach out to those women suffering because their incomes had been greatly reduced or totally eliminated by these events. They initially encouraged women to use their talents to supplement the incomes earned by their husbands or in many cases of subsistence producers, to become the sole cash-income earner for the family. To provide markets for the products of these women WIBDI conducted monthly market days, which became so popular they are now almost a Samoan way of life.

Realising that most of the hardships were being felt by those living in rural villages and recognising the need to provide skills-based training to these women to improve quality and marketability of their products, WIBDI changed its name and focus in 1995. They became Women in Business Development—the focus being on small business development and preparing WIBDIs clients to establish and maintain their own income generation projects through providing training programs in the rural areas.

Linked to the training programmes were opportunities to generate much-needed cash and links to markets – key elements missing in most training programmes at the time. The projects that have grown through WIBDIs support have created village economies, which in the past had totally relied on remittances. This is creating a changing dynamic. It is also empowering village populations who previously had not felt the need to generate their own income and as a result they live in a cash economy and yet were totally unprepared to deal with the realities involved.

WIBDI continues to focus on the village economies. Quantifying women’s weaving and creating job opportunities in the sponsoring of fine mats, and finding simple technologies to produce products for niche export markets are two main activities. These activities allowed the introduction of a micro-finance scheme, which introduces the women and their families to a banking system. They learn how to save and learn about credit discipline.

WIBDI seeks to build a solid economic foundation for rural Samoans by creating opportunities that use their local resources. In doing this, families begin to realise their potential and not only participate in WIBDI programmes, but start to form their own local enterprises.