Twelve Chinese agricultural experts and civil works engineers have joined the Ministry of Agriculture to progress to the Samoa-China Agricultural Technical Aid Project (SCATAP) which will benefit the country’s agriculture sector.
The experts were welcomed by the ministry in a ceremony held at the SCATAP demonstration Farm in Nu’u earlier this week.
The team arrived in the country on 29 April and completed their mandatory quarantine period required by Samoa’s COVID-19 protocols.
Ambassador Chao Xiaoliang welcomed the new members and encouraged them to build on the successes of the last 4 phases of the SCATAP project.
“Since 2010, the Chinese Government has dispatched 40 Chinese agricultural experts to work in Samoa. Large quantity of China Aided resources such as tunnel houses, seeds and machineries were directly allocated to model farmers” said Ambassador Xiaoliang. “Many agricultural technical packages were tailored for the farmers’ needs in Samoa and agricultural training has benefited more than 10,000 people.
“I am happy to announce the SCATAP Phase V has started implementation at full speed. Some project goods have arrived in Samoa and many are on the way. The affiliated civil works of the project will be launched soon. I am confident that the SCATAP Phase V will increase the production of vegetables, citrus, and broilers in Samoa and result in the increase of farmers’ incomes as well as promote friendly relationships between Samoa and China.”
Caretaker Agriculture Minister Lopao’o Natanielu Mu’a made special mention of all the SCATAP experts from China who have contributed immensely to the development of Agriculture and Fisheries in Samoa in the last 10 years.
”The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and especially our farmers welcome the expansion and diversification of phase 5 to include (1) citrus production to extend the fruiting seasons throughout the year, and (2) broiler chicken production via the use of locally produced feeds, to assist our subsistence poultry farmers to produce more chickens given the huge volumes of imported chicken meat annually.”
Phase V of SCATAP aims to increase the technical level and production capacity of vegetables, citrus and broilers in Samoa which will be achieved by strengthening agricultural extensions, building agricultural facilities, providing agricultural machineries and carrying out agricultural training.