This article was published on SPC's website.
Tautua nei mo se taeao manuia - Serve now for a better tomorrow - Samoan proverb.
In this edition of Research In Focus, we meet Fuatino, an inspiring young woman with a foot in Samoa, a foot in Fiji, and a heart all over the Pacific.
With a professional passion for serving nature and humans equally, Fuatino shares a small insight into her background and talks about work, life and aspirations.
My name is Fuatino Afato-Fatiaki, Samoan, and I am married to a Rotuman. I work at the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Land Resources Division as the Organic and Agroecology Productions Systems Officer with PoetCom.
People ask me what my title means. In simple terms, agroecology is farming with nature. Agro is farming, and ecology is the relationship between human beings and every other living thing. In other terms, it’s farming with an understanding of how we manage trees and plants as well as how they interact with us. We’re all one. We're all supposed to be interconnected in our way of life, but because of human evolution led us to protect and shelter ourselves from nature.
What’s your background, and how did it prepare you for your current position?
I did my undergraduate studies in environmental science, majoring in Chemistry. After graduating, I was hired as a Food Systems Officer in Samoa. A short time later, I married and moved to Fiji with my husband. During that transitional period, I took advantage of the changes in my life and applied for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) scholarship for Pacific Island students. I was fortunate to get the grant where I continued my studies and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Agriculture, majoring in Crop Science.
I wasn’t planning on working or studying in Agriculture, but life blew the wind for me, and I rode the sails wherever it may take me.I always thought I’d be a biochemist technician or work in a laboratory, but never in the agriculture field. But when I think about it, it makes sense. I grew up on and around farms, and my father used to manage farms for Congregational Christian Church in Samoa. Somehow, I was destined to do this.
Later, I finished my master’s degree and got a job with SPC in 2020.
I love my job and the evolution and development happening in our sector. From trying to control pests to saying that we need to manage pests instead of controlling them, we’re taking a step back and heading toward more nature-based solutions for managing our resources.
How do you think your work will translate into impact for the Pacific?
The numbers in the Pacific show that most farmers are ageing and that there are few young farmers. The younger generation is environmentally aware. They are witnessing the hardships their parents endure using conventional farming methods and the lack of sustainability involved in this work.
POETCom, through the Pacific Organic Learning Farms Network (POLFN) Project, is trying to promote alternative and natural ways of farming that are more sustainable for the long term. We’re demonstrating that organic farms can function just like conventional ones and be better in the long run. We’re trying to influence the older generation to adopt new, better ways.
Is there enough female representation in this sector?
In the agriculture sector, not as much as we need it to be. A common misconception is people's perception of this domain. They think it requires manual labour or constant work in the field, but it’s not like that. Though it’s a male-dominated domain, you feel like you must prove yourself and your worth.
But it's changing—a very slow but most welcomed change. When I started, it was hard for a woman to stand in front of men and give them training. Nevertheless, I had several instances where male attendees would tell me it was inspiring to see a woman guiding this space. They even said they wanted their daughters to follow their lead.
It also motivates other young women to see a woman in charge. I’ve heard them say multiple times that If I can stand up and do it myself, they can, too.
What’s one of the things you love about your job?
I have a purpose: to change the farming systems in the Pacific, and I’m going to do my best. I’ll start by influencing people to shift to agroecological farming because it has health and environmental benefits.
My question ended, but Fuatino was still engulfed in her thoughts, pondering all the things she loved and couldn’t mention. In true, passionate form, she kept naming countless things she loves about her work and all the countries and territories she’s impacting.
What do you wish you could change for the betterment of the Pacific? Policies, a change in them! Unless we do that, we're continuing farming in the old ways. There should also be stricter measures for monitoring and implementing these policies. For example, if we develop a policy to emphasise organic farming, if the label says organic, farmers need to prove that.
I understand that it’s not easy, as policies must also provide evidence of their effectiveness and change the old approaches.
What would you say to yourself ten years ago?
After a long pause, Fuatino couldn’t help but say the words that came to her mind first.
Believe in yourself. Believe and love yourself. Be an aspiration even ten years from now; be someone who will inspire your daughters or young ones. There are plenty of things that I would tell my younger self.
Fuatino takes another deep pause and says, after much contemplation:
Life is not about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself.
I want to leave you with a Samoan proverb that resonates with me:
“Tautua nei mo se taeao manuia”: Serve now for a better tomorrow.
This proverb exemplifies a beautiful belief held by all those at the centre. We are drinking from wells we did not dig and warming our hands from a fire we did not kindle. Our job is to maintain and leave it better than we found it for those coming tomorrow. Many cultures believe we do not own the land. We are simply borrowing it from our children and future generations, and we have a duty to preserve it for a better tomorrow.
This proverb truly resonates with what I live for and believe in.
Carrying SPC’s value of “stewardship,” Fuatino is a testament to servitude for the Pacific, the resilience and boundless potential of Pacific women, and the forging of paths of change and inspiration that ripple far beyond the shores of her beloved homeland.
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