Agriculture Census, 2009-2010 - Lesotho

Abstract
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The Agricultural Sector is an important economic sector in terms of production of food, raw materials as well as creation of employment. The type of farming practiced in Lesotho is primarily subsistence. The
2009/2010 sample Agricultural Census was conducted as part of FAO 2010 World Census of Agriculture. While BOS undertakes annual Agricultural Production Surveys (APS) in addition to the decennial censuses, the latter is more comprehensive in coverage. For instance, the APS does not cover structural variables that do not change rapidly over time, such as household characteristics and farm structure.

The main objective of the 2009/2010 Agricultural Census is to provide information which will be used to monitor achievements in the implementation of key priority indicators of Lesotho as articulated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). Of particular interest, will be monitoring of the area of improving agricultural production and food security. Data collected from the Agricultural Census will provide information on progress in the implementation of strategies designed to attain these indicators. Census of agriculture is one of the largest national statistical studies undertaken by BOS. Its use as a source of data will be taken into consideration for monitoring the agricultural related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) No: 2; Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger as well as MDG No: 7; Ensuring Environmental Sustainability. Furthermore, the 2009/2010 Agricultural Census will be the third held in the MDGs reference period (1990–2015); the first was conducted in 1989/1990.

Geographic coverage
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National coverage

Analysis unit
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Households

Universe
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The statistical unit was the agricultural holding, defined as "an economic unit of agricultural production under single management comprising all livestock kept and all land used wholly or partly for own account agricultural production purposes, without regard to title, legal form, or size". The AC covered the holdings in the household sector ("agricultural households") only.

Kind of data
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Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure
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A stratified multi-stage sampling scheme was adopted for the selection of the sample for the census. In the first stage, Primary Sampling Units were selected from an area frame of Enumeration Areas (EAs), which were demarcated by Cartography and Survey Methodology Division during the preparation of 2006 Population and Housing Census. Construction of PSU sample frame was done by merging two or more adjacent enumeration areas. PSUs were selected with Probability Proportional to Size (PPS), where the number of households as of 2006 Population and Housing census in the PSUs was considered as the Measure of Size (MOS). About 120 PSUs in rural areas that covered 2,292 households were selected. Individual agricultural holdings (farming households) constituted Secondary Sampling Units (SSUs) for estimation of land use, crop areas and livestock population. In each PSU, about 27 agricultural households were selected through systematic sampling from a list frame of all agricultural households. For estimation of both summer and winter crops yields, 10 fields under specific crops and two sub-plots for sample crop cutting in each selected field, form the Third and Ultimate Sampling Units respectively. Institutions, prisons, schools and projects that were within the selected PSUs automatically qualified for data collection.

Mode of data collection
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Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument
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Two types of questionnaire were used for the AC 2009/2010, for holdings in the household sector in:

(i) rural areas

(ii) urban areas

The questionnaires for rural areas included eleven forms. The AC 2009/2010 questionnaires used for rural households were: Form AC-1 "Rural household listing", Form AC-2 "Rural household members", Form AC-3 "Area mea­surement", Form AC-4 "Field listing by crop", Form AC-5 "Operation and costs", Form AC-6 "Crop failure and pre-harvest losses", Form AC-7 "Crop cutting"; Form AC-8 "Farmer's yield estimate", Form AC-9 Availability and utilization of cereals in the household", Form AC-10 "Livestock inventory" and Form AC-11 "Structural information".

Those for urban areas contained six forms. These included one form for listing the agricultural holders in the selected PSUs. In addition, a community questionnaire was designed for the community survey. The AC questionnaires covered 13 of the 16 core items recommended for the WCA 2010.( The following core items were not covered by the AC: (i) "Land tenure types on the holding"; (ii) "Presence of aquaculture on the holding"; and (iii) "Other economic produc­tion activities of the holding's enterprise".)

All questionnaires are attached to the external materials section.

Cleaning operations
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1. DATA PROCESSING AND ARCHIVING
Manual data entry was used for the AC data on the Access screen. Tabulation and analysis were done with SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Editing (such as range and consistency edits) was done manually. The estimation of standard errors (SE), the coefficient of variation (CV), the confidence interval (CI) and the design effect (DEFF) was performed using WesVar.

2. CENSUS DATA QUALITY
To minimize non-sampling errors, intensive training of enumerators and sensitization of respondents was undertaken.

Data appraisal
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As stipulated in the Statistics Act of 2001, one of BOS functions is to conduct the Agricultural Census. Planning, organization, data collection, data processing, analysis and tabulation as well as administration and financial responsibility remained with the Bureau of Statistics. However FAO provided technical assistance for tabulation plan. About 120 trained enumerators carried out the fieldwork under the supervision of field officers. Each enumerator was in charge of one PSU, while one Senior Field Officer was supervising data collection under the supervision of Statistician from BOS Headquarters within each district. Data was retrieved from the field to BOS headquarters. It was then processed and analyzed according to tabulation plan.

摘要
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农业领域在粮食、原材料的生产以及就业创造方面，被视为一个至关重要的经济部门。莱索托所实行的农业类型主要是自给自足型。2009/2010年的农业普查作为联合国粮食及农业组织（FAO）2010年世界农业普查的一部分而开展。尽管BOS（莱索托统计局）除了每十年一次的普查外，还进行年度农业产量调查（APS），但后者在覆盖范围上更为全面。例如，APS不涵盖那些在时间上变化不快的结构变量，如家庭特征和农场结构。

2009/2010年农业普查的主要目标是提供信息，这些信息将被用于监测莱索托减贫战略（PRS）中阐述的关键优先指标的实现情况。其中特别关注的将是提高农业生产和粮食安全的面积监测。从农业普查中收集的数据将提供关于实现这些指标所制定策略实施进展的信息。农业普查是BOS进行的国家最大规模的国家统计研究之一。其作为数据来源的应用，将考虑用于监测与农业相关的千年发展目标（MDGs）第2号：消除极端贫困和饥饿，以及第7号：确保环境可持续性。此外，2009/2010年农业普查将是MDGs参考期（1990-2015年）内的第三次普查；第一次是在1989/1990年进行的。

地理覆盖范围
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全国覆盖

分析单元
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家庭

总体
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统计单元被定义为“一个在单一管理下的农业生产经济单位，包括所有饲养的牲畜和所有全部或部分用于自给自足型农业生产的土地，不考虑所有权、法律形式或规模”。该农业普查仅覆盖家庭部门（“农业家庭”）的持有。

数据类型
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普查/计数数据 [cen]

抽样程序
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为普查样本的选择采用了分层多阶段抽样方案。在第一阶段，从人口和住房普查（2006年）准备期间由制图和测量方法分部划定的清查区域（EAs）的面积框架中选择了初级抽样单位（PSU）。通过合并两个或更多相邻的清查区域来构建PSU样本框架。PSU的选取采用按规模成比例（PPS）的方法，其中以2006年人口和住房普查中PSU的家庭数量作为规模测量（MOS）。约120个PSU被选中，覆盖了2,292户农村家庭。个体农业持有（农业家庭）构成了用于估计土地利用、作物面积和牲畜人口的次级抽样单位（SSU）。在每一个PSU中，通过系统抽样从所有农业家庭的名单框架中选择大约27个农业家庭。为估计夏季和冬季作物产量，分别选择了10个特定作物的田地以及每个选定田地中的两个子田作为第三和最终抽样单位。位于选定PSU内的机构、监狱、学校和项目自动符合数据收集资格。

数据收集方式
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面对面 [f2f]

研究工具
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2009/2010年农业普查在家庭部门持有中使用两种类型的问卷，针对：

(i) 农村地区

(ii) 城市地区

农村地区的问卷包括十一种表格。2009/2010年用于农村家庭的农业普查问卷包括：表AC-1“农村家庭清单”，表AC-2“农村家庭成员”，表AC-3“面积测量”，表AC-4“按作物列出的田地”，表AC-5“运营和成本”，表AC-6“作物减产和收获前损失”，表AC-7“作物切割”；表AC-8“农民产量估计”，表AC-9“家庭谷物可用性和利用”，表AC-10“牲畜存栏”和表AC-11“结构信息”。

城市地区的问卷包含六种表格。这些表格包括一种用于列出选定PSU中农业持有者的表格。此外，还设计了一份社区问卷用于社区调查。农业普查问卷涵盖了世界农业普查2010年推荐的核心项目中的13项（以下核心项目未被农业普查涵盖：（i）“持有地上的土地权属类型”；（ii）“持有地上的水产养殖存在情况”；和（iii）“持有企业其他经济生产活动”。）

所有问卷均附于外部材料部分。

数据处理
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1. 数据处理和存档
在Access屏幕上使用人工数据录入进行农业普查数据。制表和分析使用SPSS和Microsoft Excel进行。编辑（如范围和一致性编辑）是手动进行的。标准误差（SE）、变异系数（CV）、置信区间（CI）和设计效应（DEFF）的估计使用WesVar执行。

2. 普查数据质量
为了最大限度地减少非抽样误差，对普查员进行了密集培训，并对受访者进行了敏感性培训。

数据评估
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根据2001年统计法的规定，BOS（莱索托统计局）的职能之一是进行农业普查。规划、组织、数据收集、数据处理、分析和制表，以及行政和财务责任均由统计局承担。然而，联合国粮食及农业组织（FAO）提供了制表计划的技