Preparations are underway for the Land Use Survey Project, which is being organised by the Agency for Reconstruction and Development Inc. (ARD), in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture. The goal of the Survey is to facilitate planning for the agricultural sector. Enumerators will be in the field from Monday, October 31, seeking information from farmers about what crops they have planted, what they intend to plant in the future and to determine why some farms are no longer in production. The information gathered from the Survey will provide data that can be used by the ARD and the Ministry for planning purposes, and will also be useful for farmers, researchers and other stakeholders involved in the agricultural sector. This Survey also seeks to address the problem of unreliable and inadequate data needed for planning. The Survey is being designed to solicit information about farmers’ attitudes towards agricultural production pre and post Hurricanes Ivan and Emily. In particular, the data collected will provide information about nutmeg. Hurricane Ivan uprooted some 550,000 nutmeg trees. The impact of hurricane damage on the nutmeg sub sector has affected approximately 30,700 persons directly or indirectly, thereby reducing their household incomes. Source: Office of the Prime Minister