This week, Samoa sent off its first shipment of export-ready bananas to New Zealand. It is the first since cyclone Gita ravaged plantations across the country. The Banana Growers Association gathered its crops to fill two containers -or 500 boxes- of bananas for the New Zealand banana market.
Nearly 100 other farmers received planting materials over the course of this year, signalling a promising future for commercial banana exports from Samoa, said the president of the Banana Farmers Association, Tuisuga Sofara Avea.
“This shipment is a trial for commercial sale, which hasn’t been done for almost fifty years. We hope only that people are behind this and praying for us that we will be successful and then a lot of Samoans will benefit.”
Sobserver.ws reported how in June, some bananas were sent to New Zealand in a trial run, to iron out the process of exporting container loads of fruit. This first commercial shipment will arrive in New Zealand in less than a week, as the journey is meant to take five days.