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

2. 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

3. 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 per cent
Different time measures:
short term
long term
ad-hoc

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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