A census of agriculture is a statistical operation for collecting, processing and disseminating data on the structure of agriculture, covering the whole or a significant part of a country. Typical structural data collected in a census of agriculture are number and size of holdings, land tenure, land use, crop area, irrigation, livestock numbers, gender of holders, number of household members, labour and other agricultural inputs. In a census of agriculture, data are collected at the holding level, but some community-level data may also be collected.
The most widely accepted definition of the census of agriculture is that provided by the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA), particularly in its guidelines that are updated every ten years.
In practice, countries adapt this definition to their national circumstances and needs. Some examples are available here. Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union provides a common definition for all its member countries.
Objectives of the census of agriculture The census of agriculture aims to provide data on the structure of agricultural holdings, with attention given to providing data for small administrative units. Censuses of agriculture are also used to provide benchmarks to improve current crop and livestock statistics and to provide sampling frames for follow-up agricultural sample surveys.
The general objectives of the census of agriculture are:
To provide data on the structure of agriculture, especially for small administrative units, and to enable detailed cross-tabulations; To provide data to use as benchmarks for and reconciliation of current agricultural statistics; To provide frames for agricultural sample surveys.
In practice, countries expand these objectives or add specific objectives to serve their needs.
Since censuses of agriculture are usually undertaken only every ten years, it is natural to associate them with those aspects of agriculture that change relatively slowly over time. Some national censuses of agriculture, however, are conducted at five-year intervals (e.g. Australia, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, USA and Vietnam), which can provide more up-to-date structural data for agricultural policy purposes. Thus, censuses of agriculture are mainly concerned with data on the basic organizational structure of agricultural holdings (see structural data in the definition above). Censuses of agriculture do not normally include data that change from year to year, such as agricultural production or prices. The latter type of fast-changing information is usually collected in sample surveys.
In terms of international comparability, some cross-country analytical studies on agricultural sectors have been carried out using census data.
Statistical unit of the census of agriculture The statistical unit for the census of agriculture is the agricultural holding. In developed countries the statistical units are often establishments with sales or operations above a certain level. Eurostat provides a common definition of the statistical unit for all European Union member countries.
Definition of agricultural holding The most widely accepted definition of an agricultural holding is:
"An agricultural holding is an economic unit of agricultural production under single management comprising all livestock kept and all land used wholly or partly for agricultural production purposes, without regard to title, legal form or size. Single management may be exercised by an individual or household, jointly by two or more individuals or households, by a clan or tribe, or by a juridical person such as a corporation, cooperative or government agency. The holding's land may consist of one or more parcels, located in one or more separate areas or in one or more territorial or administrative divisions, providing the parcels share the same production means, such as labour, farm buildings, machinery or draught animals."
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, provides a similar definition for all its member countries:
"An agricultural holding, or holding or farm is a single unit, both technically and economically, operating under a single management and which undertakes economic activities in agriculture within the economic territory of the European Union, either as its primary or secondary activity. The holding may also provide other supplementary (non-agricultural) products and services."
There are two types of agricultural holding:
holdings in the household sector – that is, those operated by household members; and holdings in the non-household sector, such as corporations and government institutions.
In most developing countries, the majority of agricultural production is in the household sector. The concept of "agricultural holding" in those countries is often closely related to the concept of "household".
Scope of the census of agriculture A census of agriculture aims to measure the structure of the agricultural production industry. The scope of the agricultural production industry broadly covers not only crop and livestock production activities, but also forestry and fisheries production activities, as well as other food- and agriculture-related activities. The World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) recommends that the census of agriculture focus only on those units engaged in the production of crop and livestock products, including aquaculture. Units engaged in forestry and fisheries are not covered unless they also had some crop or livestock production activities. Usually, separate data collection operations are organized to cover forestry and fisheries.
The scope of a census of agriculture may be defined under ISIC (Rev.4) as follows:
Group 011: Growing of non-perennial crops Group 012: Growing of perennial crops Group 013: Plant propagation Group 014: Animal production Group 015: Mixed farming
However, country practices show that the scope varies according to the objectives set for the census. Some countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Japan, Korea and New Zealand include forestry within the scope of their census of agriculture. Other countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Thailand include fisheries.
Coverage of the census of agriculture Ideally, a census of agriculture should cover agricultural activity across the whole country. However, for operational reasons, sometimes countries omit certain areas of the country, such as urban areas, remote areas with marginal levels of agriculture or areas with security problems. Country practices on coverage in national censuses of agriculture can be found here.
Census of agriculture's reference period The census has two main reference periods, namely, the census reference year and the census reference day:
The census reference year is a period of twelve months, usually either a calendar year or an agricultural year, generally encompassing the various time reference dates or periods of data collection for individual census items. Use of the agricultural year has the advantage that respondents often think of their activities in seasonal terms and thus find recall easier for this reference period. In practice, "the last 12 months" is commonly used instead of a fixed census reference year. The census reference day is a point in time used for inventory items such as livestock numbers and machinery. In practice, many countries use "day of enumeration" instead of a fixed census reference day to facilitate the enumeration.
Country practices on the use of census of agriculture's reference periods can be found here.
Timing of the census of agriculture The World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) encourages countries to carry out their decennial census of agriculture as close as possible to the year ending in "0", to help make international comparisons more meaningful. The WCA also encourages countries to take into consideration the timing implications imposed by the population and housing census to ensure a good coordination of the two censuses.
There are many advantages to conducting the census of agriculture soon after the population and housing census, especially as agriculture-related data and field materials will still be current. If the population and housing census is being used to develop a frame, i.e. the list of households engaged in own-account agricultural activities, the need to conduct the census of agriculture soon after the population and housing census becomes more critical, to ensure the frame remains as up-to-date as possible.
History The first censuses of agriculture were carried out in Norway (1835), USA (1840), Belgium (1846), Uruguay (1852), the UK (1866), Argentina (1888), Hungary (1895), Canada (1896) and Bulgaria (1897). Following the establishment of the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) in Rome in 1905, governments from many countries agreed to promote the coordinated implementation of censuses of agriculture around the world on a basis as uniform as possible. The first Programme for the World Census of Agriculture (WCA) was developed for the years 1929-1930 and implemented in about 60 countries. The 1940 round could not be completed due to the onset of World War II. Following its creation in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) succeeded the IIA and took over the task of organizing the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) starting from the 1950 round and continued with successive decennial Programmes. The current WCA 2020 is the tenth decennial international Census of Agriculture Programme and covers the period 2016–2025.
The World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) In the 1920s, governments from many countries agreed to promote a coordinated implementation of censuses of agriculture around the world on a uniform basis. The International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) developed the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) for the years 1929-1930 and 1940. The IIA recommended the use of a "standard form" by all countries referring to the same census period. The 1929-1930 constituted the first world census of agriculture round and was implemented in about 60 countries. The 1940 census round was interrupted by the onset of World War II. After World War II and following the dissolution of the IIA in 1946, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) took over the programme and launched in 1948 the WCA 1950 as well as the successive decennial programmes. Seven decennial rounds – in 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 – have been promoted by FAO. In each decennial WCA, FAO supports member countries to carry out their national agricultural censuses through the development and dissemination of methodological and practical guidelines, and technical assistance.
Cost-effectiveness of the census of agriculture The census of agriculture is one of the largest and most costly national statistical operations and takes several years to implement from planning to dissemination of results. The census should be planned and carried out as inexpensively as possible without compromising the objectives and quality of the data. Some publications discuss approaches conducive to improving the cost efficiency of the census of agriculture while ensuring data quality, and present some country experiences.Castano, J. and Cara, O. Integrating agricultural censuses and surveys for optimal sectoral data collection. 62nd ISI World Statistics Congress 2019. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18–23 Aug 2019Castano, J. Streamlining the cost of the census of agriculture. Eighth International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-VIII, 2019), New Delhi, India
The impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of national censuses of agriculture