From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 2, August 2003.

The establishment of the Vava‘u Agricultural Farmers Council Inc. on April 3 is yet another attempt by farmers to pool their resources and to find a market for their produce.

Trevor Guttenbeil, the Vava‘u no. 1 People’s Representative to the Tongan Legislative Assembly, is the Economic and the Marketing Adviser of the council. He said that the Council was formed out of the chronic desperation of Vava‘u farmers over the difficulties of earning a fair monetary return from their toil. Trevor believed that most Vava‘u growers had been operating at a loss since the dismantling of the Tonga Commodities Board in 1992.

The former Commodities Board was the main exporter of agricultural produce from Tonga, and in the decade since it was dismantled Vava‘u growers had been experimenting with exporting their own produce. Some had loaded up containers of produce and personally taken them to Auckland, Sydney or Los Angeles and tried to sell to the Tongan communities. Even though there had been some success stories, there were some disastrous efforts with containers of root crops being left rotting and unpaid for, he said.

A few entrepreneurs had tried to help Vava‘u growers but with very little success due to both a lack of capital or a well structured marketing strategy.

United

Trevor said that the objective of the Council was to encourage Vava‘u farmers to work together thereby overcoming their lack of resources, “but being united in a big group they can effectively negotiate with the overseas markets, and they can guarantee a constant supply of produce. For example, if we find a market for say talo, to ascertain that we can supply all-year-around we can program our planning.

“The objective of the Council is not accumulate or to hand out funds but to simply help to organise growers and to present a united voice to government and to overseas aid and marketing agencies.”

Trevor said that the Council was built on a strong community base, and every village in Vava‘u is a member, with about 5,000 individual growers.

“The village elects two representatives to be members of the Executive Council, which now has about 70 members. The Executive Council then elects a 10-member Working Committee who are responsible for the running of the daily operation of the Council.”

Vanilla

Trevor said that, “Long term we would like the council to be managed by professional people and eventually become shareholders in some of the community services that are offered to the people of Vava‘u. Our short term plan includes the marketing of Vava‘u produce. We are also embarking on a vanilla-growing project where we propose for each member to grow 100 vanilla plants, and our estimate is that three years from now when these vanilla patches are ready for harvest, about $30 million will be channelled into Vava‘u annually.

“Some people from the USA are coming in July to discuss the potential of growing Nonu for export, and we will also look at the growing of other root crops, and animal husbandry to improve the status of livestock in Vava‘u.”

Trevor said that also in July they would be running an Agricultural Marketing seminar in Vava‘u.

“This seminar will be jointly funded by the Vava‘u Development Unit and the Pacific Community Trade and Investment Commission. It is very important for growers to be aware of the needs of the market and the trade policies of the countries where we market our products to.”

Trevor said that they would be holding more workshops, “and slowly introduce the concept of free trade that is stipulated under PICTA and the WTO.”  

Trevor said the Vava‘u Agricultural Farmers Council so far was encouraged by support from government and they were looking to a bright future as their plan continued to unfold.

Committee

The first meeting of the Executive Council on April 3 passed a constitution and also elected the members of the Working Committee. The organisation includes: Patron, Hon. ‘Akau‘ola, Governor of Vava‘u; Chairman, Sininafe Kuila; Deputy Chairman, ‘Okusi Hoeft; Secretary, ‘Ofa Halaifonua; Deputy Secretary, Simione Leo; Treasurer, Sione Vuki; Deputy Treasurer, Vahafolau ‘Asikia; Villages Rep., Molimea Laulaupea‘alu; Outer Ils. Rep., Sateki Kivalu; Coordinator, Tevita Maka; Deputy Coordinator, Alaipuke ‘Esau; Instructor, Sione Lisala Economic and Marketing Adviser, Trevor Guttenbeil; Legal Advisor, Samiu Vaipulu; Internal Auditor, Siesi H Sefo.