(BASED ON PRESS RELEASE) -- During its monthly general meeting held at the American Samoa Community College Land Grant complex on Tuesday morning, Mr. Edward ‘Kuki’ Avegalio of Pava’ia’i was re-elected to serve another year as president of the American Samoa Farmers Cooperative [ASFC].

Also re-elected as treasurer of the ASFC is Mrs. Tuitoga Puailoa Fanene.  Newly elected ASFC officers are vice president Va’aloa Liu and secretary Lagolemu Banner Si’ufaga Fanene.

Another highlight of Tuesday’s ASFC meeting was Avegalio’s 2009 “End of the Year Report”.  Avegalio publicly thanked the American Samoa government and new Department of Agriculture director Lefiti for prohibiting the selling of imported taro at local roadside markets.

Said Avegalio, “Local farmers must take advantage of this assistance from the government and plant/ produce more.  If the local farmers cannot fill the void left by stopping the produce from Samoa & Tonga, the government will have no choice but to allow these goods back in.”

Avegalio stated, “The ASFC had a very challenging yet productive year in 2009.  We had to make many hard choices and adjustments to our organization to become a more informed advocate for the local farmers.  We are still working and evolving as an organization to be accountable and responsible to not only the members of the ASFC and the local farming community, but also to local businesses and local consumers that buy local produce.”

The ASFC president continued, “The ASFC did not just voice concerns and wait idly.  No, we became active and worked with the community at large.  We produced planting materials and test plots for the Department of Agriculture [DOA] and the ASCC Land Grant —everything from taro to sweet potatoes, then distributed them out to the local farmers for free.”

“On Sept. 29. our island nation was rocked by a category 8 earthquake which was followed by a powerful tsunami that took the lives of 34 people and displaced over 9,000.

The ASFC immediately took action with the assistance of the DOA and delivered 60 cases of water, 60 cases of canned goods, 2,000 lbs of manioka, 2,000 lbs of taro to Fagamalo, Fagalii, Poloa, Amanave, Failolo, and Leone.  On Oct. 3 with the assistance of volunteers we delivered more water, canned food, and over 2,000 lbs of local produce, with the bulk of the taro & manioka of approximately 5,000 lbs donated from the Malaeimi farm of Tuitoga Fanene and Lelei Peau."

The ASFC president added, “Our actions have gained us a voice in the Governor’s Food Security Committee and also a chance to speak about local Agriculture in Washington DC.  The ASFC has been invited to speak on issues of quality control for local produce with School Lunch program, the DOE, US DOE, and ASCC.”

For additional information, contact ASFC secretary Banner Fanene at 258-2000 or email banner_fanene at yahoo.com.