| ID: | 86938 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Samoa |
| Title: | Samoa – Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) – November 2022 |
| Description: |
Savelio Vasega, 50 years old, is a fisherman who harvests sea grapes for a living in Piupa’a, a small fishing village on Upolu. For more than 20 years, his daily routine has revolved around the tides, with the best time to harvest sea grapes being in the early morning and evening. After cleaning and processing the sea grapes, he wraps them in breadfruit leaves and sells them at the roadside market stall in front of his family home. “Timing is important in the type of fishing I do. During the COVID-19 lockdown, we found it hard to earn a steady income since we there were restrictions on when we were allowed to go out and harvest sea grapes. The flow of customers to our roadside market also dried up.” The IFAD-supported Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) helped Savelio get back on his feet. With a new traditional wooden canoe and fishing gear, as well as accessories such as coolers, buckets, sieves and bowls, he was able to harvest sea grapes more effectively, clean and process them better and improve their storage/shelf life using coolers when selling them at his roadside stall, thus preventing the spoilage and wastage that used to reduce his income earning potential. Thanks to these small investments, his family’s income has increased by about 10 tālā per day. In Piupa’a, fishing has been a way of life for generations. The village is only about 15 meters from the main island ring road where Savelio and most fishers sell their products. Through PIRAS, the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS), reached out to this vulnerable community to support livelihood recovery. Though only 10 kilometres from Apia, Samoa’s capital city, Piupa’a had never received support from a development project. PIRAS made a difference in these families’ lives, who, for the first time ever, received a small boost to improve the productivity of their labour, decrease food loss and increase their income. The Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) supports COVID-19 food system and economic recovery by prioritizing food self-reliance, improving local nutrition and developing sustainable, equitable agricultural sector growth opportunities. In Samoa, PIRAS supports food production, post-harvest handling and market access by distributing planting materials and production inputs; providing farming equipment and training to improve farm productivity; providing food processing technology and training to support post-harvest handling, food preservation and value adding; and, linking agribusiness to markets through e-commerce platforms and inclusion in government purchasing supply schemes. PIRAS has strengthened value chain engagement of newly established farmers’ associations, and small and medium enterprises, reaching almost 4,000 participants. |
| Size: | 9.32 MB; 5472 x 3648 pixels; 463 x 309 mm (print at 300 DPI); 1448 x 965 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Show more details: | Barbara Gravelli |
| Copyright: | © IFAD/ Barbara Gravelli |
| Categories: | none |
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