Transcript Extending Agricultural Census to cover Rural Statistics

Extending Agricultural Census to
Cover Rural Statistics
Mukesh K. Srivastava
FAO Statistics Division
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Roundtable, Samoa, March 2009
Why extend scope of Agri- Census?
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Ultimate use of Statistics is to measure Social Welfare: Production,
Income and Consumption
Although we have divided the economy into sectors (ISIC) for better
understanding of data, the productive activities of households tend to
cut across ISIC groups and classes
In non-market oriented informal production sector (rural area) often the
division of agriculture and non-agriculture is blurred e.g agro-tourism
There may exist units which are not directly contributing to agriculture
production but have strong forward and backward linkages with
agriculture. For example, they may be providing goods and services to
agriculture sector or may depend on agriculture for input supply, e. g.
agricultural service providers, handicrafts makers, food processing etc.
Total economic contribution of non-agriculture household may be
significant.
Rural?
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There does not exist an internationally accepted
definition of rural area
Country specific demarcation of Rural and Urban
areas is available, usually from Population Census
Usually, the smallest administrative units are
classified as belonging to Rural or Urban area based
on:
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Population density
Extent of agriculture and non-agriculture activities
Existence of type infrastructure and social services
Statistical considerations for widening
scope of agricultural census
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Need to define the Statistical Unit, while clearly maintaining
distinction between “agriculture holdings” and “non-agriculture
holding/households”
Households whose:
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at least one member is employed in agriculture, not-necessarily on
the holding managed by him/her
main source of income is agriculture
members pursing some other specified economic production
activities, eg. fishing, providing agricultural services etc. (see also
data items 0014, 0015 and 0016 )
Usually, it may practical to obtain a frame for different types of
households and carry out specialized surveys on the basis of
these frames.
Key Messages
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Examine options for collecting data on often
neglected income generating activities in
rural areas, using the opportunity of
agricultural census
Maintain a conceptual clarity between
agriculture and non-agriculture for the
purpose of National Income Accounting.
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Thank You!