Samoa set for nonu riches

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Samoa set for nonu riches

Tags: Agriculture, Economy, Environment, Pure Pacifica Samoa Ltd Posted date: December 3, 2011 | No comment

By Tupuola Terry Tavita

If you ever needed a reason to go into agriculture, Pure Pacifica Samoa has five million for you.

By 2013, the company plans to send five million litres of nonu juice to China.Up from the three million litres it is contracted to send next year.

“Nonu has huge potential and those orders are a huge undertaking for us,” said Pure Pacifika Samoa – the leading nonu exporter in the country – spokesman Faumuina Apulu Lance Polu.

Last week, the company sent eight 20×40 containers containing 144,000 litres of juice to China, its biggest shipment yet.

“We plan to send another eight containers next week,” said Faumuina.

“We have to do that every fortnight to meet our quota.”

And it is fetching good coin for nonu growers in the country.

A fourteen-kilogram bucket fetches $9 from Pure Pacifika Samoa. More than twice the price offered by other nonu exporters.

To break that down even more. Some 300-400 nonu trees can grow on just an acre of land. At current price, that acre can fetch you between $22,000 – $25,000 a year. Plant five acres and it will be an easy annual income of $110,000.

So much so that some farmers are switching to nonu as well as public servants who normally don’t farm.

“The CEO of Agriculture has started on his five-acre plot and Richard Cook of Saleimoa Plantation is harvesting a lot of nonu.”

“Since May, Pure Pacifika Samoa has given out over a quarter million tala to nonu farmers in both Upolu and Savaii.”

Pure Pacifika is working closely with agriculture in a programme to create awareness of good nonu tree husbandry as well as developing enough planting material for potential nonu growers.

If all goes well, said Faumuina, Pure Pacifika is in line to sign a ten-year deal with partner Tupa’ilelei Jack Chen’s New Zealand Milk and Dairy Products – the Chinese nonu importer.

Pure Pacifika spokesman Faumuina Lance Polu and Savali’s Tupuola Terry Tavita

PREMIUM

“Nonu is used as a base for a range of premium beverages developed by Tupa’ilelei’s company. Tupa’ilelei also has over 3000 shops throughout China. So in essence, we are supplying to a big beverage company and also a huge beverage distributor in China.”

Pure Pacifika Samoa trucks are now a common feature on our backroads – in both Upolu and Savaii – collecting nonu from families who bring it by the bucket-load to the roadside.

“Our business concept is to provide an income for those at the grassroots level. Nonu grows wild here and doesn’t need much upkeep.Very ideal for our people who struggle to come up with the necessary capital to invest on other complicated farming venture.”

And this is no fly-by-night industry, said Faumuina.

“Nonu is not susceptible to any major disease. And studies have pointed out that the best nonu come from Samoa.”

A study undertaken by its importer, Faumuina said, concluded that nonu from Samoa was of a higher quality than nonu from Niue, Cook Islands, Tahiti and elsewhere in the Pacific.

“The quality of the nonu is measured in a chemical measurement called bricks. Samoan nonu averaged around nine bricks while that from Niue and the Cook Islands was just six, six-point-five at the most. We don’t know yet if it’s the weather or the soil that produces premium nonu in Samoa. But one thing is certain, our nonu is sort after.”

The company’s depot at Salelologa is now in full operation. The nonu is brought to its bfactory in Vaitele where it is fermented for three months and pasteurized into nonu juice. The juice is then poured into flexitanks inside the 20×40 foot container that are shipped off.

WATER

Faumuina said the operation uses a substantial amount of water and government has been asked to improve the water supply at its Vaitele factory.

“Especially during this prolonged dry season.

“Another way government can help is to improve the inland road systems in both Upolu and Savaii. Some of these roads are very bad and trucks are having a hard time getting to farms inland.”

Pure Pacifika Samoa has 40 employees working three shifts – round the clock – at its Vaitele factory.