Vegetable Variety Trials

Increasing local production of fresh fruits and vegetables is important to reduce reliance on imported and processed foods, improve community nutrition, and provide new economic opportunities for local farmers. Most produce consumed in American Samoa is imported. Increasing local production and consumption of fresh produce will benefit the local economy as well as community health. Wet tropical conditions and destructive plant pests and diseases necessitate the field evaluation of vegetable crops and varieties to identify those that grow well under these challenging conditions. Benefits include improved food security, better nutrition and community health, and a healthier environment due to reduced pesticide use.

Vegetable variety trials evaluate crops and varieties that are underutilized locally. Crops and varieties that produce well in local conditions are recommended to local growers. Through numerous vegetable variety evaluation field trials and taste tests, ASCC-ACNR identified varieties of several nontraditional vegetable crops that grow well under local conditions and which had superior eating quality according to local consumers are recommended to local growers.