The sixth agricultural census 2018 begins today to track the changes in the farming sector through collecting latest information on the country’s crops, fisheries and livestock resources.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is conducting the census named “Agriculture (Crops, Fisheries and Livestock) Census-2018”. The census will provide statistical information of the recent changes in the agriculture sector and its contribution to GDP.
The census will follow modular approach for data collection, as per the guideline of World Programme for the Census of Agriculture-2020 (WCA 2020) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Short questionnaire will be used initially and later, sample census will be conducted through long questionnaire in farm households.
144,044 data collectors will work in the field who will be supervised by 23,142 supervisors. Last month, the BBS arranged a three-day training for the divisional and district level census coordinators in Dhaka.
For the first time, the census will cover institutional agricultural farms located both in rural and urban areas. Fishery sector will be covered as well this time.
The government has allocated Tk 3.45 billion from its own coffers to conduct the census. Around 75 percent of the fund is expected to be spent on field-level staffers.
The project expects that they will unveil the preliminary statistics of the census within six months of completing the count.
The census will continue until June 20, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Agriculture sector contributes 13.31 percent to the country’s gross domestic product while 40 percent people are directly and indirectly involved in the sector. Country’s agriculture sector has been diversified over the years, driven by the introduction of improved varieties of crops in the country. Besides, the use of modern technology has increased manifold over the time in this key sector.
The BBS conducts such type of census every 10 years as suggested by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). A similar consensus took place in 2008.
