Plantation entrepreneur making it work

By Vatapuia Maiava 13 December 2016, 12:00AM

Maselina Nauer, from the village of Faleula, has figured out how to make a living depending on her plantation work.

Aged 44, Maselina works hard on her plantation and when it’s time to harvest, she supplies different supermarket chains with the crops. The hard working mother explains how good the business is for her family.

“I have been doing pretty well with my plantation for some time now,” Maselina told the Village Voice.

“I deliver my crops to a few supermarkets and they pay me for the fresh produce. I deliver to Farmer Joe, Frankie’s and other places. It’s a really good business and I enjoy it.

“I had business with Ah Liki before but it was very slow so I decided to go and search for other supermarkets who were interested in buying from me.”

She admits that her family is in real need but due to her hard work and perseverance, they make it through on a daily basis.

“The reason I started supplying these markets is because my family is in real need of the money,” Maselina said.

“The money we make is what we use to take care of everything in the family and it’s important that I keep it running this way.

“This is not the only land I work on. I have also developed another plantation over at the village of Falelauniu.”

And the money earned is not that bad either with the partnership she has with the supermarkets.

“I can make quite a bit and I enjoy the work that I do,” Maselina said.

“Take for example my cucumbers, I am sometimes able to put together 100 packs of cucumber and when they are sold, I have $600 clean and ready to go into the purse.

“There are times I profit from sales but there are also times when I don’t benefit at all from the produce.”

But of course there will always be issues; and the main issue for Maselina is that her crops are perishable which means if they aren’t all sold, they will just rot away.

“The sad thing about businesses like this is that when I sell to the supermarkets, they sometimes can’t sell them all to the customers,” she said.

“They rot in the fridges and it goes to waste. But I guess that’s what happens when the goods are perishable; they will eventually die if they’re not sold fast enough.

“There are also a few stall owners who buy from us then sell it again to make some profit. But for me, I work with joy in my heart and I know the importance of honest work.

“When working hard, that’s what I believe.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 13 December 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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