Thieves steal $15,000 worth of red palms

By Ivamere Nataro 12 December 2018, 12:00AM

Plant nursery Owner, Amy Chan Mow, has expressed frustration at the theft of $15,000 worth of palm trees from her backyard.

The owner of Amy’s Nursery in Siusega had her 10 years of hard work reaped off by thieves, who stole red palms from her backyard valued at $15,000 tala with the price of a red palm at $700 tala. 

She usually sells the small red palms for $150- $200 tala, depending on the size and the suckers too, and the bigger red palms are sold for $1,000 tala.

Amy told the Samoa Observer yesterday that there were two separate incidents, and both occurred in the night. 

“On November 28 when I went to the back of our house, most of my red palms, they were about 10 feet in height, and they were stolen,” she said. 

“One patch only three were left, and on another one only four left. So we had to fix our fence and put up a light at the back."

“On Wednesday last week they came back again. I thought they were never going to come back, but now they still come, which really upsets me.”

Amy said after the second incident they had informed the police, but she was told that they can only patrol the area, as there is no concrete evidence as to who committed the act. 

“All these hard work and they come and take it over night,” she added.  

“I want to tell the public that I am a woman farmer and it really makes me mad that these men come and steal from me because I work hard—every day I’m outside the garden and this is my bread and butter." 

“Stealing is not good, especially at these times if you are resorting to stealing to buy food and gifts for your children, because you are reaping away the hard work of other people.”

She said there have been similar occurrences in her residence involving workers, but not to this extent.

“My friend at Tanumalala too faced a similar incident. Her water melons were just about ripe before White Sunday and some people came and took all the matured fruits and cut out the vine. If they steal, why can’t they leave the vine so that the farmer can get some of it,” she added.

What makes her even more upset is that she takes care of her nursery every day, fertilising the soil, putting new soil, changing the size of the bags, and people dare to steal. 

“I want to stress that these people invade your privacy, taking photos of the plants, and then they steal."

“If anyone has information on this, I am more than welcome them to share it with me,” Amy said. 

By Ivamere Nataro 12 December 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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