By Katalina Siasau

The biggest hog farm in Tonga, Season Farm at 'Utulau, is raising over 200 commercial swines (sinamanu) and 5000 piglets. Owners Lu and Emily Lin led a tour around the farm, with the Minister for Agriculture, Food, and Forest (MAFF) Lord Fohe, and CEO Dr. Viliami Toalei Manu, on 13 October.

Dr. Manu told Matangi Tonga, that Season Farm could help reduce the high imports of poultry. “We import 9 million kilograms of poultry each year, so we hope that this farm will provide meat for the country, and reduce that high amount of imports.”

Season Farm have started selling pork meat at their farm in ‘Utulau, and also in their local shop at Ma’ufanga, Nuku'alofa.

The farm aims to sell about 5000 piglets every year, also known as puaka tunu (roasted pig), a famous dish in Tonga.

Emily and Lu have invested $2 million for new farm technology and techniques. Dr. Viliami said that this kind of investment would encourage local farmers to step up their game, if they want better yields for their farms.

Fruits and vegetables during drought

The farm also grows a variety of vegetables and fruits, in hope to provide for the country during this drought season.

They have planted four acres of dragon fruit, which is highly demanded not only in Tonga but in overseas countries as well. They are using new techniques that involves building concrete columns as a support system for the plants.

They also plan to install LED growth lights, that is beneficial for the cultivation of the dragon fruit plants. By supplementing light at night, LED lights are able to trigger flowering and fruiting, extend the growing season, boost the yields, and increase profits.

They also use pig waste as manure and biogas.

Labour shortage

The farm currently has six Tongan staff and two Chinese staff. Emily said, one of the challenges is finding staff, and with the increasing number of people going on seasonal works to overseas countries, its hard for them to find local workers.

However, they are currently trying to employ staff from China, she said.