New UN agricultural census will help attain Millennium Development Goals

More than 100 countries are taking part in United Nations agricultural censuses over the next 10 years as part of the overall effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seek to slash a host of ills, ranging from extreme poverty and hunger to lack of education and health care, all by 2015.

In addition to collecting the conventional structural data at farm level, the censuses now gather socio-economic data at the community or village level, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO), the organizing agency, said today.

“Examples of community-level data under consideration are: whether the community is prone to natural disasters, the availability of services such as roads, electricity, health facilities and schools,” FAO Surveys and Statistical Development Service Chief Hiek Som explained.

“Markets and agricultural input suppliers, as well as the existence of farmers organizations, are also considered,” he added.

In the effort to achieve the eight MDGs, accurate and updated data will help explain how changes in the agricultural sector affect household food security. This will provide indications on progress towards meeting the first MDG of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

Data will help planners better understand the reasons for low school enrolment, especially in rural areas, as part of the second MDG which calls for primary education for all.

Figures on the role of women in agriculture and the participation of rural women in non-farm economic activities can reveal social and cultural patterns, helping to attain the third MDG, which calls for gender equality and empowerment of women.

Data on irrigation, soil degradation, use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides and forests will help governments keep a close watch on environmental issues, part of the seventh MDG, which calls for environmental sustainability.

In addition to community-level data, included for the first time are items such as soil degradation, irrigation by crop type, method and sources of irrigation, agricultural practices and services, demographic and social characteristics, household food security, type of aquaculture site and agro-forestry.

The new round of agricultural censuses is the ninth in a decennial programme, begun in 1930.