The Department of Agriculture has temporarily suspended the importation of all taro and taro shoots from Samoa effective immediately.
Director of Agriculture Filifaatali Mike Fuiava said in a notice to the media dated today that he received information of an unknown virus breakout in Samoa affecting taro crops in the islands of Upolu and Savaii.
Citing his “primary responsibility of promoting food safety and food security for the territory,” the director says he has to take every precautionary measure to make sure this unknown virus will not enter American Samoa.
Said Filifaatali, “I do not want to experience another epidemic like the taro leaf blight of 1993-1994.”
He then declared that effective immediately he was temporarily suspending the importation of all taro and taro shoots from Samoa
The DOA director said lifting the suspension will depend on test results of taro samples affected by the disease which are being sent to Germany.
The director is calling a meeting of local farmers at 8:00 tomorrow morning in the Dept of Agriculture Conference Room in Tafuna to discuss the temporary suspension.
Each week the Lady Naomi delivers taro from Samoa that is sold in local supermarkets and stores in the territory,
While there have been efforts in the past to ban the importation of taro from Samoa at the request of local farmer, this has largely been just talk because local farmers are not able to meet demand.
