Samoa has a total land area of 283,000 hectares of which 48% (136,000 ha) is forested. FAO reported 37% (98,000 ha) as agricultural and crop land in 1999. In the 2015 Agricultural Survey 77,300 ha are reported as area operated by households, with 4,500 ha of temporarily fallow land, that is, it was used for growing crops sometime in the past and is not expected to remain idle for more than five years.
Upolo, has approximately 65% of the farmed land in Samoa, about 29% is permanently cropped, 45% temporarily cropped, 8% supports livestock and only 1% is temporarily fallow.
Although Savai'i is larger than Upolu, it has only 35% of the farmed land in Samoa, of which about 56% is permanently cropped, only 1% temporarily cropped, 16% supports livestock and only 1% is temporarily fallow.
The 4500 ha of temporarily fallow land is potentially valuable agricultural resource. There is little new land being brought under cultivation in Samoa. In 2015, 89 percent of the land used for permanent or temporary crops had been cultivated for ten or more years. Only 6 percent of permanent and temporary crop land was first cultivated within the last five years.
