Regional Workshop for Monitoring the SDGs related to Food

and Agriculture Sector and on the WCA 2020

Nadi, Fiji 6-10 November 2017

Oleg Cara

Agricultural Census and Survey Team

FAO Statistics Division

Linking Population and Housing

Censuses with Agricultural

CensusesTechnical Session 9b

Contents• Background

• Relationship between the PHC and the AC

• Ways to link PHC and AC

• Main advantages of linking both censuses

• Collecting agricultural data in the PHC

• Questions related to agriculture in the PHC

• Country experiences

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Background• Historically population censuses and agricultural

censuses were undertaken as two independent and separate operations.

• Experience has shown that the coordination and linkage of both operations have desired consequences reducing costs, improving the building of frames for the agricultural census, increasing the overall quality of the censuses.

• The FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020 (WCA 2020) strongly recommends that countries coordinate the agricultural census (AC) with the population and housing census (PHC), during the early stages of census planning.

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CA and PHC: Some features

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a. Statistical units:- In the PHC: the household;- In the AC: the agricultural holding.

The common unit is the household engaged in own-account agricultural activities.

Normally, there is only one agricultural holding in a household, and it is this one-to-

one correspondence which allows integration of the two censuses. Other cases can

be dealt with in several ways in order to match the holdings to the households.

In practice, countries decide on the most suitable approach in their context.

b. Ways to coordinate both censuses: Use of common concepts, definitions and classifications; Sharing field materials; Using the listing of the population census as a starting point for the frame

for the household sector of the agricultural census; Collecting agriculture data as additional items in the population census,

either as basic items or frame items through an agriculture module.

Main advantages of linking both censuses

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• Reduction of the total cost of the two censuses (the same infrastructure, logistics, equipment can be used for both censuses);

• Reduction of the scope of the agricultural census;

• Enrichment of data analysis from the two censuses;

• Ensuring regular agricultural census operations;

• Obtaining a reliable frame for the agricultural census;

• Optimization of sampling designs of the agricultural census;

• Better defining the agricultural census coverage.

The next slides provide more details on some of these advantages

Obtaining a reliable frame for the agricultural census

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• Access to an up-to-date and reliable frame of agricultural holdings –including both household and non-household operated holdings - is a majorproblem for the census of agriculture in many developing countries.

• The frame of agricultural holdings in the non-household sector can befairly readily compiled from land and business registers, lists oflarge/commercial farms and other administrative and statistical sources.

• Building a frame of household-operated agricultural holdings is a muchlarger and more complex task. It effectively means visiting all privatehouseholds to establish the extent of agricultural activity in each, and howmany separate holdings household members are engaged in. The PHCprovides a unique opportunity for identifying all agricultural households,including in urban areas, for developing an up-to-date, reliable frame as astarting point for agricultural censuses and surveys.

Optimization of sampling designs of the agricultural census

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In many developing countries agricultural censuses areconducted using large samples to generate results at smalladministrative unit level. Agricultural information collectedduring the population and housing census can be used toimprove sample design and identify optimal sample size,e.g.:

- To better stratify and allocate the sample betweenstrata and between different stages - when multi-stagecluster sampling is used;

- To provide an up-to-date size measure - whenprobability proportional to size (PPS) method is used.

Better defining the agricultural census coverage

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• Minimum size limits, on variables such as numbers of livestock, numbers of tree

crops, area of land, value of annual sales, and purpose of production are used in

most countries to determine whether a household’s agricultural activity qualifies

as a holding or not.

• This basic information can be collected during the PHC through a separate

section in the household questionnaire. The information can also be collected as

part of the pre-census cartography and fieldwork.

• In addition to providing a frame, this has advantages for the design of the

agricultural census. For example, based on the agriculture-related information

collected during the PHC the minimum size criteria can be set for the AC. Efforts,

and resources for data collection in the AC could then be focused on the more

productive holdings.

Collecting agricultural data in the PHC

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Two topics regarding agriculture-related items are recommendedby UN in the Principles and Recommendations for the PHC 2020round to be included in the PHC:

1. At the household level, information is collected toidentify households engaged in own-account agriculturalproduction;

2. At the individual person level, information is collectedto identify persons involved in agricultural activitiesduring a long reference period, such as a year before thecensus.

Collecting agricultural data in the PHC (cont’d.)

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Identification of households engaged in own-account agricultural production is especially useful for establishing a frame for a subsequent agricultural census and surveys.For this purpose, the basic items recommended by the WCA 2020 to be included in a PHC are:

1. Whether the household is engaged in any form of own-account agriculture production;

2. Measure of farm size, such as the area of land (or number of plots) used for agricultural production purposes, and the number of livestock.

Information on forestry, fishery and aquaculture activities may also be collected through the population and housing census in cases when they are important for a country. This information would facilitate the preparation of the frame when countries wish to conduct a subsequent agriculture census which goes beyond the scope of agriculture

Collecting agricultural data in the PHC (cont’d.)

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Countries wishing to collect more extensive data on agriculture may include an agriculture module in the population and housing census, consisting of a selection from the listed frame items of WCA 2020, such as:

Item 0101: Identification and location of agricultural holding;

Item 0107: Main purpose of production of the holding

Item 0201: Total area of holding

Item 0301: Use of irrigation on the holding: fully and partially

controlled irrigation

Item 0401: Types of temporary crops on the holding

Item 0405: Types of permanent crops on the holding and whether in

compact plantations

Item 0502: Number of animals (by livestock types relevant for the

country)

Item 1201: Presence of aquaculture on the holding

Item 1301: Presence of woodland on the holding

Item 1401: Engagement of household members in fishing activity

How to collect agriculture related data?

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The required household-level information can be collected as part ofthe main enumeration. In the case of the basic items these canalternatively be included in the pre-census listing/cartographic phaseof the population census so as not to overburden the PHCquestionnaire.

The latter approach has an additional advantage that the frame forthe AC can be compiled directly from the listing/cartographic exercisewithout having to wait for the questionnaire to be processed.

The inclusion of an agriculture module or some agriculture-relatedframe items in the PHC can be useful for countries planning to conductthe AC as a modular approach. In this case the core module AC can becollected during the PHC and the agriculture census would focus on thesupplementary modules, conducted on a sample basis.

Country experience

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COOK ISLANDS

Census of Agriculture 2011 (CoA) and

Census of Population and Dwellings 2011 (CoPD)

Cook Islands conducted both censuses at the same time as an integrated exercise.

Both censuses used the statistical Enumeration Area (EA) for the allocation of households

and work areas.

In each Census District, the CoPD was first conducted. The list of households engaged in

agriculture and fishing in each EA was then passed to the CoA team which then visited

these households to complete the CoA.

Traditionally, the CoPD has collected a set of data related to agriculture, fishing and pearl

farming including the level of household activity, livestock numbers and machinery and

equipment. In 2011 data on livestock were dropped from the CoPD and only collected in

the CoA 2011. Data on machinery and equipment were dropped from the CoA 2011 and

maintained in the CoPD 2011.

The Ministry of Agriculture was responsible for the CoA while the Statistics Office was

responsible for the CoPD.

Many thanks

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