No Christmas cash for Tongan squash growers [1]
Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 17:50. Updated on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 16:44.
Tongan squash growers hoping for some Christmas cash will be disappointed as the payments for this year' sqaush exports will not be made by the exporters to the growers until next year.
During the season October-November 2005 Tonga exported 12,000 tonnes of squash to Japan, and growers are still waiting to find out how much they will be paid per kilo.
The Secretary General of the Tonga Squash Council, Stephen Edwards, said this week that he had nothing to say about the shipments or the price that the Japanese importers would pay for the Tongan squash.
Ma'u Havea the Manager of FIMCO, the only squash exporters who was available for comment, said that at present no price had been because the Tongan squash would not be released into the Japanese market until the Christmas Season, and the price will not be made known until January 2006.
There were a total of five shipments of Tongan squash exports to Japan this year, totaling 12,000 tonnes, - 1,000 tonnes short of the 13,000 tonnes target. The last shipment left for Japan on November 12.
Squash pumpkin is Tonga's main agricultural export produce, and annually it brings into the country millions of yen in foreign currency earnings. Despite being Tonga's main export product, the pricing of squash remain controversial as growers 'sell' squash to exporters in good faith, knowing that the price will not be determined until the squash is sold in Japan.