The Governor’s Economic Advisory Council met last Friday with the head of the American Samoa Farmers Cooperative and others to find out how best to jump start agriculture development in American Samoa.

The EAC final report submitted to Governor Togiola Tulafono two weeks ago included the recommendation for the development of agriculture, but EAC co-chair David Robinson said the report missed other aspects of agricultural development and therefore a meeting was held to obtain more information “to fill the gap of missing information.”

Those attending the meeting included Co-op president Edward Avegalio, Agriculture Department deputy director Peter Gurr, Dr. Dan Aga with the ASCC Land Grant and Tualauta faipules Larry Sanitoa and Galu Satele Jr.

“We met to find out more information as to how best to develop agriculture, or at least move it forward at a faster pace,” Robinson said yesterday. “The EAC report that we put together had some gaps in it. After speaking with farmers, we believe additional information should be included in the report.”

Robinson, who is also president of the Chamber of Commerce, said among the issues discussed was the need for equipment — such as tractors and plows. He said it was raised by farmers there is not enough necessary equipment or financing to purchase equipment needed by farmers.

Another setback faced by farmers is fertilizer, which “is very expensive and we need to look at one of the canneries — probably StarKist Samoa that produce fish meal, [to see] if they can assist with fertilizer for farmers, which could be less expensive than importing from off-island,” said Robinson.

Additionally, [we need to] look at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) rules and regulation to make sure “we have chemicals” that meet federal regulations, he said.

“We also need to look at other things which the local Department of Agriculture can help purchase, as well as the possibility of loans for farmers to expand and improve farming through the Development Bank of American Samoa, which is one of the mission goals of DBAS,” he explained.

Robinson said the other issue raised as a concern for farmers is their inability to supply the federally funded school lunch program, which is administered by the Department of Education but overseen by the U.S. mainland firm of Sodexho.

“We will need to talk to Sodexho about this issue and provide a clearer way of how the local farmers can provide locally grown produce for the school lunch program,” he said.

“We need to follow through on these concerns by the farmers and see how to improve agricultural production,” said Robinson. “It’s even more pertinent now that we focus on the success of local farmers as another way of economic viability for American Samoa.”

OF NOTE — STIMULUS FUNDING

Co-op president Avegalio has filed with the American Samoa Recovery and Reinvestment Office an application seeking $4 million for his organization, which he says has 100 members.

The organization is an advocate for local farmers rights, training in improving production, supplying local farmers adequate amounts of inexpensive chemicals and fertilizers to ensure food production and food security.

Avegalio said the Co-op requested the funding to buy or lease land for the construction of office and storage space for the Co-op. The funding is also needed to purchase office equipment, furniture, office supplies, training materials, vehicles for outreach, one year supply of chemicals, animal feed and fertilizers, seeds, tractors, tractor attachments, tillers, outdoor power tools, hand tools ,travel costs, operating costs, and staff pay, etc.