22 Jun 2006

Samoa's PM says country does not have enough agricultural crops to meet demand

10:05 am on 22 June 2006

Samoa's Prime Minister says the country does not have enough agricultural crops to meet demand.

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was responding to calls from several Members of Parliament for his government to find more markets overseas for agricultural produce.

Tuila'epa says people are calling for more markets but there are not enough people collecting coconuts to sell to local coconut exporters.

On the other hand, he says, local demand for local crops such as taro is high but it is not sufficient to meet the needs of overseas markets.

The Prime Minister told parliament such markets would be discussed during talks with New Zealand in September.