Principles and definitions of conducting Agriculture Census in Armenia

Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) of the United Nations has a huge contribution in organizing and carrying out Agriculture Census (AC) all over the world. Every decade the organization develops programs related to implementation of International AC, where the following is reflected: necessary definitions principles standards etc The purpose is to ensure the usage of common and comparable agriculture methodology on the international level.

Create databases on agriculture structure, existing The purpose of AC Create databases on agriculture structure, existing resources and their utilization Update statistical data system on agriculture Create Agriculture Register of entities engaged in agricultural activities Improve sample survey statistical tools Improve quality of current statistics Identify trends of changes of agriculture infrastructure.

AC data will be used to create systems for the following monitoring indexes Poverty monitoring Food security monitoring Keep gender statistics Other

List of necessary activities for preparation and implementation of AC in Armenia Development of AC strategy in Armenia Create working group (committee) for organization and supervision of AC activities Preparation and approval of legal acts for conducting and organizing AC Development of AC campaign program, TV, radio, slogan, posters, leaflets, messages, web site, social networks etc Preparation of budget for organization and implementation of AC

Development of Plan for AC preparation and implementation (AC lists, organizational plans for marzes, approval and preparation of complete structural plan, etc) Recruitment of staff for AC and signing contracts Preparation of pilot AC, conducting pilot AC and data summary Implementation of AC, data collection, control tours, acceptance of materials Coding of AC questionnaires, data entry AC data (aggregated) publication and dissemination.

Normative - Legal basis of AC RA law on “State Statistics” was admitted on 20.04.2000. RA law on “Agriculture Census” was admitted on 27.11.2008 The goal of the adoption of this law is to regulate relations on preparation, organization and conduction of agricultural food producer’s census in the Republic of Armenia, processing, summarizing, publishing, storing and use of derived results.  

The law stipulates: Objectives of AC Principal requirements of AC Units of AC and their obligations Bodies conducting AC and their obligations Financing of AC Liability for the violation of Law on AC According to the law, the AC is carried out for statistical purposes only, every ten years, the data is collected directly from the natural and legal persons producing agricultural food products, data provision is obligatory, collected data is being processed, aggregated and published.

AC Units Legal and natural persons, who are considered to be the owners, users and tenants of agricultural lands and/or livestock (or for the production of agriculture products). List of units involved in AC All the legal persons dealing with agriculture Individual (agricultural) households Individual entrepreneurs Individual farms of members of horticultural associations Individual farms of urban population dealing with agriculture

AC data collection All the legal persons dealing with agriculture- census, by filling out questionnaire Individual (agriculture) households and individual entrepreneurs – census, through questionnaire Individual farms of members of horticultural associations and urban population dealing with agriculture - sample, questionnaire, survey

AC questionnaire General description of Unit Land Resources Number of Livestock Agriculture machinery and equipments Agriculture buildings and premises Labor force Sales of agricultural product Other

The AC management in Armenia will be implemented at three levels: Managing AC in Armenia The AC in Armenia will be organized and carried out according to the list of necessary activities prepared for AC. The AC management in Armenia will be implemented at three levels: National Marz (regional) Field

National level Preparation and approval of necessary legal acts Ensure the financial and logistical aspects of the census Ensure the collaboration with governmental bodies related to the organization, implementation and monitoring of census Management of methodological issues regarding the organization and implementation of AC Automatic processing of AC results, publication and storage Other

Marz (regional) level Management and coordination of necessary activities for preparation and implementation of AC Create lists of AC units Preparation of plans for organizing and conducting AC in the administrative units, according to the lists and materials of maps Selection and training of enumerators Renting of necessary premises and transportation means for the organization and implementation of AC Collection of AC questioners, checking and presentation to NSS RA (national level) Others

Field level Verification of lists of AC units Data collection about AC units, filling out questioners, and providing necessary information regarding the process of AC implementation on a regional level Agreement on relevant references (approval) regarding the carried out activities (services provided) It is assumed that the number of AC units will be about 500.000, (of which agriculture households- 340.000, auxiliary farms of population -100.000, collective-horticultural farms-65.000 and commercial enterprises-100)

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