A chat with the new CEO of the SAA |23 March 2018

‘Without our farmers, there will be no farming industry’

Q: What can you tell us about yourself and your professional background?

A: My name is Linetta Estico, I am 53 years old and I was born on Praslin. I attended Baie Ste Anne Primary School and moved to Mahé where I completed Form 1 to Form 4 of secondary school at the Regina Mundi Convent. I then joined the Seychelles College where I did my O-Level and A-Level studies. Thereafter, I studied Horticulture for five years at an institution in Germany and upon my return to Seychelles in 1998, I worked for Indian Ocean Nursery, under the Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) as a horticulturist.

In 1990, I joined the Ministry of Agriculture where over the years, I worked in different sections. At first, I was a Research Officer and was responsible for the Agricultural Documentation and Information Unit. I then became the Director for Agricultural Extension Services, where I was responsible for ensuring that representatives of the ministry were visiting all farmers to better understand how they were coping and to assist them with the challenges that they were facing.

I attended many courses along the way, including completion of a postgraduate degree in Business Administration with the University of Surrey; this has enabled me to better manage different sections within the ministry.

I was later transferred as Director for Agricultural Lands to manage all state land that was designated for agricultural development. At the same time, I was also responsible for the Planning Section, for the Agricultural Statistics Unit, Victoria Market activities, the newly launched Agricultural Insurance Scheme as well as the Project Unit. In November 2016, I became the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) and also continued working for agricultural lands and planning, before I was appointed as CEO on March 8, 2018.

Q: How are you settling into your new role thus far?

A: I am very comfortable in my position, especially since I have already gained some experience in this work when I supported previous individuals in this same role.

However, I need the support of everyone in the industry; we need to work as a team, together with all the main stakeholders to further advance the agricultural industry.

Q: What inspired your interest in the field of agriculture?

A: My late-grandfather was a farmer at Montagne Posée, Anse Boileau and I always enjoyed visiting him on his farm and eating the passion fruits. These visits sparked my interest and also inspired me to choose horticulture as my field of study.

I was very happy when I was accepted for my course and I am happy that I persevered with this choice to contribute towards the accessibility of local, safe, nutritive foods by our population; I want to help promote these and encourage farmers to do the same. 

Q: What is the current status of the agricultural industry in Seychelles?

A: Before 2009, the Agency observed that agricultural production was high due to the control measures that were in place; local produce accounted an estimated 60% of total food consumption. However, there has been a great deal of competition to our local food producers since liberalisation due to the increased importation of foods into the country.

Our customers are more health conscious now and as a result, there is a growing market for this. However, there are problems with consistency in the supply of agricultural produce which can be affiliated to a lack of marketing efforts and this is one area we are working on; farmers need to know where they will be able to sell their produce.

Currently, we are working with the Ministry of Land use and Habitat to identify more locations where district markets can be set up and make local produce more accessible to people. We are also working on having lead farmers that can have contracts with other farmers to supply the hotels. 

The agricultural industry also faces financial challenges and we are trying to work with the Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS) to ensure that low-interest funds are more accessible to local farmers and also to ensure that the farmers are paying back their loans. Additionally, we are working on exposing farmers to various financial institutions so that they can collaborate directly with these bodies to avail of financial aid. 

We have nonetheless observed some positive advances in the industry, despite the challenges. We have seen many new associations within the field being set up to encourage farmers to come together as one voice. We are also seeing many more investors who are interested in this field and are presenting their projects to the Agency as they are more aware of the benefits and profitability; however the scarcity of land remains a problem.

Many young people are also interested in investing in agricultural projects and this is encouraging as it is the youth that will move the industry forward and bring in new technology. I encourage more youth to do the same as although there has been an improvement, we still need more young people to participate.

The Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture (SIAH) is currently reviewing its curriculum to attract more students who will later become qualified farmers and workers of the Agency. We are working with the Ministry of Education and the SIAH Board to encourage students to take more of an interest in this profession from an early age by incorporating an agriculture related subject into primary/secondary school curriculums which will help students better understand the importance and profitability of this industry. 

It is true that local fruits and vegetables can be seen as relatively expensive and this is because the cost of production is high. We are currently collecting data on the cost of production in Seychelles and in a few months, we will be able to compare these costs against those of importation. In addition, more processing of local produce to ensure consistency of supply, as well as increased marketing efforts will hopefully contribute towards a reduction in prices.

With regards to organic produce, this continues to be a difficult task as there are many criteria and procedures involved before a farmer can become a certified organic producer. However, there is  already a significant amount of produce available that have been grown with less chemical fertilisers and we can reduce the use of such products even more.

We are more careful with the types of farming products that are made available at the store; we try to give out more bio products and the response to this from farmers is increasingly more positive as they are more conscious of the health and environmental risks that these chemicals pose. We will continue to encourage them and to monitor and measure the impacts of this initiative.

Q: What do you want to achieve during your tenure as CEO of the SAA?

A: My approach is to listen to staff of the agency, the farmers, the vendors in the Victoria market and our clients to ensure that I remain close to all of them and to always be aware of the challenges that they are facing. I have an open door policy so that farmers can feel free and comfortable in talking to us about what they feel.

I have always had close relationships with the farmers but I want to enhance these further as they are central to this industry; without our farmers, there will be no farming industry. They understand the challenges and are able to devise solutions so it is important to include them in such discussions. They are also able to decide on the best forms of technology that are required; our role is to conduct research at the Anse Boileau Research Centre as well as on-farms before transferring these technology to the farmers. 

My mandate is principally to ensure augmentation in the production of local foods; we need to make certain that we have sufficient local produce available for the population in the event that we cannot import goods due to unforeseen circumstances, and it is our farmers that have the ability to do this.

We need to continue enhancing national food security, innovation, technology, the services of our staff towards farmers and to ensure that agricultural lands are producing to their maximum. This is why we are embracing the concept of shade house cultivation - to help control the environment of the crops and prevent heavy rainfall from affecting them.

Market studies indicate that there is demand for local produce and we need to ensure that farmers understand the profitability and commercial value in such an industry.

Our parent ministry will also be reviewing the current policies to see how the government together with the private sector can better develop agriculture in Seychelles and how we can make the environment more conducive for farmers to be more productive. For example, more funds are required to put in place basic infrastructure and other facilities for farms such as access roads, electricity, etc. 

At the Agency itself, I will be organising the structure in such a way that ensures the best service is given to all our clients. There is a need to reinforce the section for frontline officers that visit farmers to ensure we improve our understanding of all undertakings at farm level, organise an information system that generates accurate data and ultimately make better, more informed decisions.

Q: What is required to achieve all these objectives?

A: 1. We need to work together and not in isolation, understand what others are doing, listen to each other, share our knowledge and experiences, communicate, visit each other and focus on production of local foods together.

2. We need to encourage the public to plant more fruits, vegetables and herbs at home and to buy local produce, encourage children to consume these and make people understand why these are better/more nutritive; it is also important to be able to fully understand where our food comes from which is not always possible with imported goods.

Agriculture has an important role to play in good nutrition; consumption of imported foods is contributing towards the increasing rate of obesity in our country. To help reduce this, we need to concentrate on producing and consuming fresher, local produce.