Sixty-one farmers and fishers from Savaii have used their Matching Grant disbursements in the Samoa Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity and Marketing Project to buy hardware goods and supplies.
One of the MGP recipient and Savaii cattle farmer, Faalii Peseta of Matavai Safune bought much needed equipment and tools like shovels, stable nails, wire- strainer and safety gear at the Samoa Agriculture Store on the first day of disbursements.
Peseta plans to extend his cattle farm and turn it into a viable business to support the family.
“I’ve grown up around farming all my life and now it’s our turn to look after our family cattle farm. Ever since the start of the global pandemic I began to look at farming more seriously because I can see it’s the only way to survive during a pandemic season.”
“My plan is to become a cattle multiplier and a business man in Savaii.”
“Praise God that we are able to come here and collect our hardware tools and equipment from this project through the MAF. We didn’t expect that we can get this kind of help so I want to thank the Ministry because this will go a long way in helping to develop my farm so we are really grateful for this project.”
Under the SFPROM Matching Grants Programme (MGP) funding is made available to eligible farmers to purchase new and innovative equipment (from wire fencing, high quality chainsaws to safety gear etc) to help save time and money and boost their productivity.
The grant disbursements led by the SAFPROM team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries took five days to complete
The team co-coordinated and monitored the purchase orders of each farmer and fisher at various hardware stores in the Salelologa Township.
MGP Manager, Auimatagi Luaiufi Aiono said despite many delays and setbacks in rolling out the Matching Grants Programme, they are thankful to all the different stakeholders for their collaborative effort in pursuit of a shared goal to see direct assistance to farmers and fishers, especially now with the ongoing impact of the global pandemic on the economy.
300 approved farmers and fishers from Savaii have completed their training so far, and are waiting for the approval of their business plans before they sign their Grant Agreements.
The SAFPROM project which came into force in October 2019 aims to increase the productivity and access to markets by selected producers, to improve management of targeted productive natural resources and, to provide an immediate response to an eligible crisis or emergency.