U.S. Senators hear how COVID, food security and inflation are affecting the territory

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — During virtual testimony from the territory, before a U.S. congressional committee, Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga said American Samoa faces the same challenges as the other U.S territories dealing with “inflation” which he says is an issue that “we want to address.”

“The cost of living has gone up, since COVID-19,” the governor said in response to a question during the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on Tuesday this week focusing on the state of the territories.

For example, the governor points out that a bag of cement that used to cost $8 “is now more than $20 per cement bag.”

“And the cost of building materials went up as well,” he said, noting that ocean transportation service is slow coming to American Samoa resulting in a lot of projects having to wait for the ships to come in.

“Food security is another issue that American Samoa will be facing in the near future, because ocean transportation is slow and not forthcoming as usual. American Samoa used to get two ships a week and now we’re getting about two ships a month,” he said.

The query on inflation, as to whether it’s affecting the territories, and how federal COVID-19 funding is helping the territories was asked by committee chair, Sen. Joe Manchin. The same question was asked of all governors of the insular areas during the hearing.

For COVID-19 funding, the governor said that among the benefits is getting residents vaccinated and rates have reached more than 82% and the territory is still working on getting up to 90-plus percent vaccination rate.

Responding to a follow up question from the chair on COVID-19 funding, Lemanu responded, “we have restarted the infrastructure build-up since COVID in terms of building our infrastructure” in case of a community spread of the virus in the territory. COVID-19 funding also helped with building schools and health care facilities.

FOOD SECURITY

As part of his opening statement to the committee, the governor pointed out that food security is one of the issues tested by COVID-19. (See yesterday’s edition on the governor’s opening remarks.)

The Governor’s State of the Territory Comprehensive Report — distributed to lawmakers last month — includes a summary on “Food Security”, saying that the frequent unstable changes in the climate, increased concerns in areas of food security and ensured effective plans are in place for a more resilient territory able to sustain its economy and safeguard the overall welfare of local residents.

“American Samoa’s limited natural resources and remote location is a constant challenge. Over 95% of food consumed in our Territory is imported,” it says.

The report points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused shipping delays resulting in empty shelves at local grocery stores and empty  shipping containers all over the island.

And plans are underway to reconfigure the main terminal at the Port of Pago Pago in order to adapt to these rapid changes.

“Climate change, labor disputes, and trade agreements beyond our control have increased vulnerability to our economic growth,” according to the governor.

Additionally, food safety and food security continue to be a priority and the Administration’s support of agriculture  demonstrates this. Furthermore, the administration continues to support food production while putting underutilized agricultural lands to use and creating jobs while diversifying the local economy.

As previously reported by Samoa News, the governor in a Dec. 8, 2021 memorandum, established the government’s Food Security and Safety Committee, and appointed 19 members — which includes the American Samoa Chamber of Commerce chair, while the rest of the membership are cabinet directors and senior ASG officials.  (See Samoa News edition Jan. 03, 2022 for details).