Roma Taro Samoa

Roma Taro Samoa (“RTS”) is a commercial Taro farm located in Gagaifolevao, Lefaga, Samoa. RTS currently supply premium Taro for export to NZ and USA.

ROMA TARO SAMOA – “THE CHIEFS CHOICE” – since 2012

The Roma Taro Samoa Story

1992 – WESTERN SAMOA
Samoa’s taro industry was worth some $4 million to the country. Just one year later, Samoa’s taro was gone, destroyed by a fungal disease called the taro leaf blight. All the varieties of taro grown in Samoa proved susceptible and they were all quickly wiped out. Gone was an export income, a staple

food source and a way of life interlinked with a culture.

2009 – INDEPENDENT STATE OF SAMOA
A lot had changed since the decline of Samoa’s taro industry, even the name of the country itself. One thing that had not changed was the Samoan appetite for taro, especially for the original Samoan varieties popular before the leaf blight disease. After years of hard work in conjunction with other partner countries Samoa was able to successfully breed five varieties of taro which are resistant to the leaf blight disease and which had the same traits as popular past varieties.

2010 – SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
As a result of this successful research, Samoa taro exports were revived and a once dead export industry began to slowly rebuild. An article on these developments is reported by the Samoan Observer (link to article?) and is picked up with interest in Australia, signalling the birth of the Roma Taro Samoa (“RTS”) “project”.

2010 – 2012 – SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA/ SAMOA
Months of research and planning followed as well as hours logged in transit between Australia and Samoa. The Samoan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (“MAF”) were immense in their assistance, ensuring that all concerns were adequately addressed and providing invaluable guidance on the project. Number crunching, logistics and a realistic forecast for the success and sustainability of a renewed Samoan taro industry were three key concerns addressed during this time.

23 APRIL 2012 – GAGAIFOLEVAO, DISTRICT OF LEFAGA, SAMOA
After months of planning, the RTS project was launched with a total of 12,000 taro shoots being planted. Three of the five new taro varieties planted to test suitability for the project were the Black (Tama Samoa), Red (Lalelei O Samoa) and Green (Manaia Samoa). A small team of four (4) full time employees were hired with the assistance of sixteen (16) casual workers and a handful of family members. All worked very hard over three (3) full days and managed to plant the 12,000 taro shoots over three (3) acres. DECEMBER 2012 – GAGAIFOLEVAO, DISTRICT OF LEFAGA, SAMOA – CYCLONE EVAN
The devastating Cyclone Evan struck Samoa causing significant damage and loss of life. While the RTS project sustained some damage in the form of giant banyan tress toppling over on the land burying hundreds of crops, no injuries were suffered and the modest shelter stood the test of Evan. The subsequent wet months also had a significant impact on the planting objectives in early 2013, proving to be an invaluable lesson in planning and forecasting (weekly weather, seasonal patterns, resourcing and financial) for the project.

2013 – SAMOA
Out of the chaos of Cyclone Evan came the silver lining of the first RTS harvest. As the harvest was brought forward sooner than anticipated the timing for NZ and USA exports did not match up, causing concerns. Through hard work, a buyer was sourced and the first RTS harvest was exported to neighbouring American Samoa. In the following months RTS successfully supplied taro for export to NZ, USA and American Samoa. The RTS workforce has since grown to seven (7) full time employees with additional casual workers as and when required. While the work force grew, the number of varieties planted decreased. The Green variety was the first to be stopped due to poor yield. This has since been followed by the Black variety that is slowly being phased out. While individual yield size for Black was pleasing, its quality suffered through inconsistency in growth between batches. The Black has also suffered as a direct result of the overwhelming preference by international and local consumers for the Red variety. As a result of these small successes and steep learning curves, RTS continues to mature and transition from being a “project” to a fully fledged commercial venture. THANK YOU
RTS would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have made this possible to date, notably:

Misa Konelio (A.C.E.O), Pueta Tanielu and the team at the Samoan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries

Reverend Fereti Moenoa and the team at Manai Exports

Mr. Vaemu Tuimauga and the team at BFV SQS Exports

The RTS team who are at the coal face of this project: Malae Leua, Sepe, Afele, Manai’a, Ligo, Setefano and Kalepo as well as all the casual workers who have given their time when needed. The Taua’aletoa and Faumuina families as well as the RTS network of friends for their never- ending support, with a very special mention to Tumama Faumuina and the Matriach of the Faumuina Family Fa’amalele Faumuina for all the love and support at ground zero. THE FUTURE
RTS have a number of plans and projects in the pipeline which we hope to unveil in the months to come for both local and international markets. More on these projects in the near future, no doubt you will read about it here first. For now, RTS will continue to work towards our four main goals;

1. Provide premium export quality taro for international markets.
2. Contribute to rebuilding the Samoan taro export industry.
3. Contribute to the economies of both the district of Lefaga and Samoa through fair and gainful, permanent and casual employment, as well as local trade.
4. Make quality taro accessible and affordable for Samoan residents. Fa’afetai le lagolagosua ma le nofo tapua'i. Soifua ma ia manuia. Roma Taro Samoa

09/11/2015

Due to ongoing construction work at MAF pack house in Atele where the taro containers are processed, quality checked and packed we will unfortunately not have a shipment for November 2015.

The next shipment should be available between 12 - 15 December 2015 just in time for Xmas lead in.

Manuia le a*o.

08/11/2015

Lucky enough this week to have tried our hand at "Ka Palolo" with some pretty good results.

Also managed to get around to briefly enjoy some more of the natural beauty of Samoa.

14/10/2015

E fa'amalulu atu ona ua delay le vaa mai Samoa, ua faatoa mafai ona tatalina le container talo i le a*o Lua a*o 20 Oketopa 2015.

Fa'amolemole fa'afeso'ota'i mai pe a iai se suiga i lau oka fa'afetai.

Please be advised due to a delay in the vessel arrival into Auckland we will not be able to release taro orders on Saturday as planned. Instead the taro will be available for collection on Tuesday 20 October 2015.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please advise if you need to make changes to your order as a result.

Faafetai

Roma Taro Samoa

11/10/2015

Talofa Auckland Taro Munchers,

Our next container of fresh tasty Samoan taro will be available to the public on Saturday 17 October 2015.

This month we have sourced our taro from the villages of;

Safatoa, Matafa'a, Falese'ela, Savaia and Gagifo in Lefaga.

Sapunaoa, Satalo, Matautu, Malaemalu and Salani in Falealili.

Maua fo'i TAGA ULI PINIKI i se tau taugofie mo oe ma lou aiga.

To place an order, please call or text us on 022 151 6924 while stocks last.

Taro will be available for pick up from 3pm Saturday 19th September.

If you havent already try our new Samoan Pink. You wont be disappointed!

29/09/2015

DECLARATION OF METEOROLOGICAL DROUGHT IN SAMOA

A Meteorological Drought is now in effect for Samoa.

Over the course of the last three months, the Samoa Climate Early Warning System (CLEWS) managed by the Samoa Meteorological Division has recorded below ‘normal’ rainfall in some areas of the country, while other areas mainly to the southern sector of the islands received ‘average or normal’ rainfall.

The ‘dryness’ phenomenon covers about 60 % of the country and is mainly to the north. Indicators now show that the rainfall deficiencies in these areas have reached the threshold of a meteorological drought.

The north and central region of Upolu Island, from Saoluafata to Apia and Vaimoso to Mulifanua, Manono and Apolima islands and eastern region of Savaii Island from Maota to Tuasivi, Puapua to Falelima are now declared to be under a Meteorological Drought. This is based upon assessment of the monthly rainfall climate observational data.

Other areas that includes the south (Safata and Siumu), south east of Upolu Island (Falealili and Aleipata) and south of Savaii (Palauli to Salailua) are still classified ‘average’ or above average rainfall.

However, they are more prone to extended dry conditions, if the current event continues they may experience similar drought conditions.The impacts of a meteorological drought include; likely temporary growth failure of certain w**d and grass species due to precipitation deficiency, reduced ground water recharge, reduced surface water flow and water availability, increase risk of forest and bush fires, increased surface dryness such as dusty conditions due to increased evaporation and transpiration, greater sunshine exposure due to less cloud cover. (Refer to Table 1 for detail)

Therefore, the public is advised to conserve, store and manage water in a sustainable manner, and reduce water usage and wastage. It is also highly recommended for the public to refrain from open burning of rubbish in grassy or forest areas.Agencies and authorities are also requested to take precautionary measures to minimise the potential impacts of this current ENSO phenomenon.

29/09/2015

Our new white and pink labels just came in. All very exciting. They will be proudly decorating our next batch of taro to hit Auckland in October.

20/09/2015

E momoli atu le fa'afetai ma le fa'amalo i le mamalu o Samoa i Aukilani, mo le lagolagosua i se taumafaiga vaivai a Roma Taro Samoa.

Another shipment done and dusted, our biggest one yet.

Huge thank you to our new and our loyal followers who purchased taro this weekend.

We would also like to thank our friends at Radio Samoa NZ and Samoan Business Network for their support.

Lastly, we could never continue to do this without the support of our small but very committed team in NZ you know who you are and how invaluable you are to us.

Now to start planning the next one.

15/09/2015

Talofa Auckland Taro Munchers,

Roma Taro Samoa is proud to present fresh Samoan Taro from the villages of Safa'ato'a, Savaia, Falelatai, Sapunaoa, Satalo, Malaemalu, Fasito'o Uta and Faleasiu.

Maua fo'i TAGA ULI i se tau taugofie mo oe ma lou aiga.

To place an order, please call or text us on 022 151 6924 while stocks last. Taro will be available for pick up from 3pm Saturday 19th September.

Be adventurous and try our new Samoan Pink. You wont be disappointed!

13/09/2015

Since starting the Roma Taro Samoa project in 2012 one of the most satisfying feelings is the sense of giving what little we can in the way of assistance to our Samoan people through full time jobs, casual jobs and now paying a fair price to Samoan farmers in exchange for their taro destined for New Zealand.

In our first attempt at sourcing taro from farmers we continue to witness first hand how hard our people work to put food on their tables and meet their obligations.

We also had the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the natural beauty of our motherland. What a special people, what a special place. Thank you Samoa.

Enjoy the pics.

Happy Sabbath...

22/08/2015

Talofa Taro Munchers,

We are really excited to announce the recent launch of another initiative being a new online rugby recruitment service set up by three Samoan/ Kiwi lads.

They specialise in connecting rugby players and clubs throughout the world. If you know of any players looking for that next opportunity or even some life experience through rugby or any clubs looking for a recruitment path please share the page;

www.facebook.com/WorldRugbyGroup

and the website;

www.worldrugbygroup.com

Fa'afetai tele lava

Pitch'd Pitch'd - The online community for athletes, coaches and sports professionals for sports careers!

C

16/08/2015

A sneak peek at what strongly looks to be the future of Samoan taro.

We haven't been to market for a few weeks yet but hang in there all the work in between will be worth it when we return.

17/07/2015

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