Agricultural Census for the Republic of Armenia Data Quality Issues Workshop 27 June 2012

Current status of the planning of the AC Ministry of Agriculture is actively involved in the planning AC probably to be taken in October or November The main questionnaire has already been tested in Ararat and Kotayk Marzes Questionnaire on adjacent plots to be developed Field testing implemented: experiences and further recommendations on how to improve the questionnaire More field testing will follow before a pilot Financing issue still not resolved Different options are discussed: How to get the most use of the Population Census data ? Full census or partly sampling ? Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc

The importance of the Agricultural Census The Agricultural Census will provide extremely needed information to policy and decision makers and investors Preparedness for infectious diseases More efficient use of land and of pesticides and fertilizers The levels of current agricultural statistics may easily be off by 20-30 per cent Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc

The importance of a an information campaign A high quality Agricultural Census will improve the situation A high data quality relies on high quality answers from the agricultural households Challenge no. 1: how do we pursuade the farmers to trust the interviewers and to provide quality information ? Information campaign the true purposes of the Agricultural Census stressing the non-control purposes the individual farmers’ interests in answering correctly Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc

Basic requirements for high quality data The AC should be prepared well in advance The questionnaire must be logically structured, and the questions relevant and non-confusing Good infrastructure is required Organisational issues IT issues The interviewers should be well-trained Comprehensive interviewer instructions Easy to understand Focus on most difficult parts – experience from field tests THE EXPERIENCE FROM THE POPULATION CENSUS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc

Recommendations regarding data quality Thorough training of interviewers Thorough training of interviewer instructors One interviewer instructor for each 5-10 interviewers After first two days evaluation and optimization of data collection process reporting of specific problem types to central office sharing experience and information through central office, for example clearer decision rules in specific cases Long data collection period: 3-4 weeks fewer interviewers more and more experience gathered during data collection period As much checking as possible should be done when doing the interview with the household (the farmer) Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc

Examples of possible checks Data at micro-level from the Population Census might be used as checks The totals = the sum of the single items If farmer reports about “operated land”: There should also be crops There might often be machinery If farmer reports about “livestock”: There should also be buildings etc. The questionnaire could be supplemented with a few “help-questionnaires” – for example on labour force – and the information transferred More – please discuss! Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc

Conclusions The Agricultural Census is more difficult then the Population Census The training of interviewers and interviewer instructors should be well prepared The information campaign will be of crucial importance The Agricultural Census is extremely important for Armenia, and this should be stressed to everyone involved, also to motivate interviewers Different time measures: short term long term ad-hoc