American Samoa’s Agricultural Census, which is a federal census, is running into problems.
Farmers are refusing to give information because they’re upset they didn’t receive any compensation for crop damage from Tropical Cyclone Gita.
Department of Commerce Chief Statistician Meleisea Vai Filiga says the Agricultural Census is a federal census, which is carried out in every state and territory every five years and has no relation to the Tropical Cyclone Gita crop damage surveys.
There is no complete list of farmers in the territory so enumerators are using lists from the Department of Agriculture, ASCC-Land Grant and the School Lunch Program.
It’s estimated that there are 5,000 farmers in the territory.
Meleisea said the two types of farmers included in the census are commercial and subsistence farmers.
The census is collecting information on the number of farms in the territory – total acreage, crops grown, livestock raised such as pigs, chickens, tilapia and hydroponic farms.
Other information being collected is the amount of money made from sales of farm produce and livestock, how much of the produce is consumed by the farmers’ families and expenses connected with the farms such as paid laborers, pesticides and animal feed, as well as tools.
Meleisea says there have four enumerator teams going out to different villages with census questionnaires.
He said this is the first time they’ve come across this problem of farmers refusing to give information.
He made it clear that the Agriculture Census is not related in any way to Tropical Cyclone Gita surveys on crop damage.
The census staff also report that some farmers think that the information they’re giving may be used for taxation purposes or tied to immigration. Meleisea explained that all information given for the Agricultural Census is confidential and federal law prohibits the use of any information collected during the census for any other purpose.
Meleisea is hopeful that this report and stories in other media will help make farmers understand the purpose of the census and prompt them to release information.
He said they hope to wrap up the census in August.
