Back K. Morrison1 and N. Tekiu2
Lincoln University, P.Box 84, Canterbury, New Zealand1 and
Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries and Meteorology, Samoa2
Abstract
A resource centre, O Le Puna Atamai - Samusu Conservation and Development
Centre, in Samusu village, Samoa is to become the distributor of EM to
Samoa. The centre has been set up in a co-management arrangement to facilitate
interaction between Samusu village and Government Ministries and Departments.
The centre will run workshops run by Government Ministries and Departments
as well as NGOs. It will shortly also become a community Trust to run the
provision of 'Effective Microorganisms' (EM) for the village and Samoa
as a whole, as well as a compost toilet industry based in the village.
Samusu village is planned to become a model village in Samoa for how EM
can be incorporated within organic and high yielding mixed cropping and
agro-forestry development, and appropriate waste management. The application
of EM is to be integrated into leading edge agricultural research and development
in Samoa. This includes the recovery and development of traditional mixed
cropping regimes.