Rhiannon Turner,
PREO Programme Manager
With just one border control officer to process an entire plane, my 1am arrival in Samoa was slower than expected. But the majesty of this country’s natural setting quickly buoyed me: Samoa is green forest stretching as far as the eye can see, yet rarely out of sight of the coastline. Opening the curtains the next morning to ocean views across a trim lawn, I regretted not booking more time.
Sunshine Pacific is a farm supplying Frankie’s, one of Samoa’s largest supermarket groups. They produce eggs and hydroponic crops, using automation to help address a chronic labour shortage. A PREO grant has supported solarisation of the operation, cutting electricity costs and proving a model that other local farmers might follow.
At the farm I met Mayday, who runs the business with her husband, son of Chinese immigrants. Their farm manager Oliver showed me around: the chicken shed with its conveyor system moving eggs through to packing, the hydroponic crops in neat rows. Oliver has been the driving force behind solarisation. Mayday and her husband were initially sceptical, but the solar panels on the chicken shed have delivered lower electricity bills and an unexpected bonus: noticeably cooler interior temperatures, reducing ventilation costs. A positive feedback loop enabling further investment. They are now developing a solar dryer for chicken manure fertiliser, another income stream and another step toward circularity.
In the egg-packing room
This context differs from Solomon Islands or Tonga: Samoa comprises two main islands connected by a 60-to-90-minute ferry, with reliable roads, and close to 100% energy access. The development challenges are shaped by other factors.
Samoa faces some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity globally, influenced in part by reliance on imported, processed foods. A long-established mobility pathway allowing Pacific Islanders to work in Australia has also contributed to a large Samoan diaspora abroad. While remittances play a significant role in the national economy and have supported Samoa’s classification as an upper-middle income country, this has affected the availability of local labour, including for agriculture. With fewer people working the land, food production has declined in some areas. This is not solely because of labour shortages, but also because household income sent from overseas can reduce the immediate necessity of farming.
Sunshine Pacific’s automated system helps address this gap, producing volumes that would be difficult to achieve with the scarce manual labour available on the islands. The wider benefits include improving availability of fresh, healthy, affordable produce combatting reliance on processed foods and the creation of local jobs.
Relaxing in Mayday’s garden centre
Despite these benefits, there remains a complicated interrelationship with the culture of family and village networks and the support provided to the community by those earning an income. Samoan businesses often find it challenging to compete with the wages available for temporary work overseas. This can hinder individual incentive to work in Samoa and, in particular, to gain promotion and develop a career there. Strong community ties and service to one’s village are paramount here, shaping individual incentives in ways that may differ from assumptions in other countries.
This visit reminded me that expected outcomes are rarely straightforward. Systems are complicated. In Samoa, PREO’s role may be less about attracting external investment and more about demonstration: showing local farmers that technology can support productive agriculture despite changing labour dynamics. With abundant local natural resources and sunshine, a successful proof of concept at Sunshine Pacific could encourage other to adopt similar approaches.
