Islands of innovation:
Farmers across Samoa trial climate-resilient tomatoes and peppers

– 17 November 2025 –

Photo by USP

A partnership between WorldVeg and The University of the South Pacific (USP) is bringing a range of climate-resilient tomatoes and peppers to Samoa.

The work addresses interlinked food system challenges facing many Pacific Island nations – maintaining reliable vegetable production amid rising temperatures and shifting pest and disease pressures, while also reducing reliance on expensive seed imports. The fragility of those systems was laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic, when trade and transport disruptions cut off supplies of imported seed for many small-island states.

USP and local partner Sunshine Pacific Ltd have been screening heat-tolerant tomato and pepper lines – developed by WorldVeg – in Samoan growing conditions, together with local farmers. From the 10 tomato and 12 pepper lines initially screened, five promising heat-tolerant lines have already been selected and are now being evaluated in farmers’ fields in different agroecological zones across the country.

The work – led by Dr Leslie Toralba Ubaub, a lecturer in the Discipline of Agriculture and Food Technology at USP’s Samoa Campus in Apia – aims to develop locally adaptable, open-pollinated tomato and pepper varieties to ensure farmers have access to affordable, reliable seeds. As the work progresses, USP will team up with local seed producers and government agencies to establish a community-based seed multiplication and distribution system, ensuring that the benefits of the research take root across the region.

“This is how global breeding translates into local resilience,” said Assaf Eybishitz, senior scientist at WorldVeg and leader of its tomato breeding program. “Testing these lines under real-world conditions in Samoa helps us see how crops respond to heat and stress and meet the required product profile – insights that strengthen breeding for the Pacific and beyond.”

Dr Ubaub was recently awarded the 2025 Vice-Chancellor and President’s (VCP) Strategic Fund for Female Academics, which will facilitate the expansion of this work. The award grants six months of teaching release to focus on publishing and disseminating her findings, while underscoring USP’s support for women leading high-impact research across the Pacific.

Her research builds on two major projects funded under the Pacific Agriculture Scholarships, Support and Climate Resilience (PASS-CR) programme through ACIAR, and the PEGASUS ‘Take-It-Further’ Project under the Future Earth Organisation, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Her collaboration with WorldVeg scientists alongside Professor Daniel Tan of the University of Sydney, has helped expand USP’s capacity in applied agricultural research and climate-resilient crop development.

“This is exciting and important work and it’s great to see it being so strongly supported by USP,” said Dr Derek Barchenger, senior scientist at WorldVeg and head of its pepper breeding program. “By working with local partners, we can align improved breeding lines with local knowledge to deliver varieties that truly thrive.”

This news story follows this recent story by the University of the South Pacific.

See also: Leslie Toralba Ubaub talks about her work screening for climate-resilient vegetables in Samoa