PESHAWAR, Feb 21 (APP):Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) as per United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) guidelines, has decided to conduct 7th Agricultural Census throughout the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its newly merged districts to integrate the agricultural, livestock and agro machinery on scientific lines by using digital technology.

A budget of Rs. 650 million is allocated for 7th Agricultural Census despite meager financial resources of the country.

It was revealed at a special meeting of PBS at Benevolent Fund Building Peshawar that was chaired by senior member PBS Muhammad Sarwar Gondal (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) while high ups and senior field officers from PBS, KP Bureau of Statistics, KP Agriculture and Information departments attended in large number.

The meeting was told that large scale Agri holdings (NCH) and Process re-engineering strategy has been evolved to make this vital national move a success story like the COVID Census that was successfully conducted on crash grounds in 2019. The data and information thus collected will be utilized for evidence-based policy making. Hence efficient and effective management of human and financial resources are crucial for this 7th Digital Agricultural Census, the meeting was further told.

It was informed that PBS has established 157 Agricultural Census Support Centers for seamless execution and management of field operations wherein the provincial stakeholders viz Board of Revenue, Agriculture Extension, Livestock, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bureau of Statistics, Crop Reporting Services will support in Field Operation, Supervision and Monitoring. It was also decided to fully exploit the print, electronic and social media for outreach of this national exercise to all the concerned circles of society.

M Sarwar Gondal, Member (SS/RM), PBS, informed that the 7th Agricultural Census will provide benchmark data for policy planning to fulfil the food and fiber needs of more than 241 million population of the country.  For broader involvement and wider acceptability, PBS has initiated engagements with its partner organizations and provincial stakeholders whose participation will help in diversified perspectives, identifying needs and addressing the shortcomings and potential issues in provision of reliable data in the agriculture sector.

The meeting of all provincial focal persons was held on 20th December 2023 at PBS HQ Islamabad. Afterwards, a series of provincial meetings started, the first provincial meeting was held at Provincial Census Coordination Center (P3C), PBS, Karachi, Sindh. The second provincial meeting was held on 15th February, 2024 at P3C, PBS, Provincial Office, Punjab, Lahore while the third provincial meeting of this sequel was held at Peshawar.

Pakistan is an agricultural country and agriculture has 23% share in our national GDP out of which share of only livestock is 64%.  Agriculture is providing employment to 37% of our labor force, therefore, Agricultural Census 2024 will be an important source for evidence-based policy making.

 He emphasized on the maximum participation and cooperation of provincial stakeholders for successful completion of the field operation in the 7th Agricultural Census.

He further apprised in detail regarding the methodology, field operation plan, media strategy, and efficient use of the available budget requirements. He informed that PBS is using newly developed sampling design which is also vetted by FAO wherein 11054 Mouzas/Blocks are selected all over the country, out of which 2190 mouzas/blocks pertains to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He informed that It will be the First Integrated Digital exercise in the field of agriculture for data collection in Pakistan through optimum utilization of available resources. The Digital aspects like Tablet based data collection, use of digitized maps of Mouzas/Blocks, SMS Gateway, Call Centers, were elaborated clearly.

It was informed that for smooth and efficient field operations, various working groups for Complaint Management and provision of information have been constituted. The divisional and district census coordinators have already been deployed by PBS at each Agricultural CSC for technical guidance, facilitation, and operational management. Similarly, 157 training venues having facilities of multimedia, internet, sound system, laptops, printers have been shortlisted. Training will be imparted using ICT materials with interactive videos/audios by the expert trainers to ensure standardization of the census concepts. PBS has also planned for process re-engineering to enumerate the big holdings (NCH) throughout the country.

The provincial stakeholders appreciated the efforts of PBS and ensured the cooperation for successful conduct of this great task of national importance.