27 Feb 2014

American Samoa farmers encouraged to grow cocoa

7:02 pm on 27 February 2014

The Department of Agriculture in American Samoa is importing cocoa seedlings from Samoa to propagate and distribute to local farmers.

The Department has asked residents with large tracts of land to plant cocoa.

The director of agriculture, Lealao Mel Purcell, says some who had expressed interest later pulled out, when they realised there was some maintenance involved in farming cocoa.

But he feels confident serious farmers will be able to supply mainland markets that have shown interest in buying from American Samoa.