Introduction
The 2000 Agriculture Survey is a follow up of 1999 Census of Agriculture and is part of the "Agricultural Census and Statistics" project, TCP / SAM / 8921 jointly funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, and the Government of Samoa.
The Survey was conducted as a joint exercise between the Department of Statistics (DOS) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries and Meteorology (MAFFM).
The fieldwork was conducted in October/November for the three weeks by a team of thirty enumerators. The Agriculture extension officers were employed as supervisors during the enumeration period.
The 1999 Agriculture Census results were used as frame in which a ten percent sample was selected. A total of 2,302 households were enumerated for the whole country broken down into 4 Regions as follows:
Number of Households Enumerated by Region
| Total (Samoa) | Apia Urban Area | North West Upolu | Rest of Upolu | Savaii |
| 1935 | 466 | 601 | 398 | 470 |
Survey Methodology
Census or complete enumeration of a population was thought to be the only way to collect reliable information about that population. However, the resources required are enormous and the respondent burden is great. The development of sampling theory over the last 50 years or so, has overcome this problem. Today, sample survey are universally accepted as providing reliable information about the entire population with much less resources.
For Statistical purposes, Samoa is divided into four Regions: Apia Urban Area (AUA), North West Upolu (NWU), Rest of Upolu (ROU) and Savaii (SAV). These four regions are further sub divided into villages. Villages are further sub divided into Enumeration Area (EA), 878 in total.
The 2000 Agricultural Survey was based on a ten percent (10%) sample selected systematically. That is, every tenth enumeration block was selected from a random start, and all households in the selected blocks were included in the sample.
The above methodology relies on the enumeration areas being of similar size to ensure that when the weights are applied to the household and individual counts, the population counts of households and individuals are closely approximated.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. The number of households and person in each enumeration area varies enormously.
To overcome this problem, the initial sample selection weights were adjusted to benchmark them to the official number of households per region from the 1999 Agricultural Census.
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Summary of Results.
Agricultural Activity
| Total Number of households | 20,521 |
| Number of Agriculturally active households | 16,615 |
| Number of Non-agricultural households | 2,619 |
| Number of Minor-agricultural households | 1,735 |
| Total number of holdings | 16,615 |
| Total number of parcels | 35,964 |
Sale of Major Crops
| Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling young and/or matured coconuts
| 8%
|
| Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling copra
| 5%
|
| Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling cocoa
| 8%
|
| Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling bananas
| 12%
|
| Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling taro
| 12%
|
| Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling taamu
| 13%
|
Consumption of Major Crops
| Percentage of households consuming young coconuts
| 28%
|
| Average weekly consumption
| 11 nuts
|
| Percentage of households using coconuts for cooking
| 71%
|
| Average number of coconuts used for cooking per week
| 35 nuts
|
| Percentage of households using coconuts for feeding animals
| 58%
|
| Average number of coconuts used for feeding animals per week
| 99 nuts
|
| Percentage of households consuming cocoa
| 47%
|
| Average weekly consumption of cocoa
| 4 cups
|
| Percentage of households consuming banana
| 78%
|
| Average weekly consumption of banana
| 2 bunches
|
| Percentage of households consuming taro
| 42%
|
| Average weekly consumption of taro
| 22 pieces
|
| Percentage of households consuming taro palagi
| 29%
|
| Average weekly consumption of taro palagi
| 2 baskets
|
| Percentage of households consuming taamu
| 65%
|
| Average weekly consumption of taamu
| 3 pieces
|
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Livestock and Poultry - Number of livestock kept as of day of enumeration
| Pigs
| 170,000
|
| Goats
| 300
|
| Chicken
| 440,000
|
Fisheries
Percentage of households engaged in fishing = 21%
Percentage of Pelagic fish (in tala) caught and
(I) Eaten = 11%
(II)Sold / Given away = 88%
Percentage of reef fish (in tala) caught and
(I) Eaten = 50%
(II) Sold / Given away = 50%
Percentage of Figota (in tala) caught and
(I) Eaten = 48%
(II) Sold / Given away = 52%