Farmers Association chair and economist Afamasaga Toleafoa Photo: Samoa Observer
The Samoa Farmers Association is concerned with the decline in the country's agriculture sector outlined in a new government report.
The latest Agriculture and Fisheries Sector Plan obtained by the Samoa Observer said the industry made up close to a quarter of Samoa's GDP in 1994/1995 and was down to just 10 percent by 2020/2021.
Farmers Association chair and economist Afamasaga Toleafoa said agriculture had been in decline for a long time.
"Agriculture used to be the backbone of Samoa's economy," Toleafoa said.
"Food security was very high, food dependence was very low and exports were mostly around 80 percent agriculture. It's the reverse now."
Toleafoa said more resources dedicated to agriculture was needed to reverse the trend.
"The levels of resources that go into agriculture is nowhere near what's required to make the transformation that these plans continually talk about."
The report said exports from the agriculture and fisheries sector to the economy was weakening over the years. It said exports contributed to 30 percent of the nation's GDP compared to 51 percent of imports.
The report said the sustained investment was needed for the revitalisation of the industry.
However, despite the decline, the sector still employed the largest proportion of the country's labour force.
Samoa's main exports are fresh fish, taro, beer, coconut products and nonu juice.