Agricultural Census 2010-2011
Lao PDR, 2011
Identification
LAO_2011_AgC_v01_M
Agricultural Census 2010-2011
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Lao PDR | LAO |
Agricultural Census [ag/census]
The Lao Agricultural Census is part of a world-wide programme of agricultural censuses, which started in the 1930's. Over 120 countries are now participating in this programme.
The first Agriculture Census was 1998/99, the second Lao Agricultural Census 2010/11 was undertaken in Lao PDR and covered all 143 districts in the country. The census was undertaken in three parts: 1) enumeration all 143 head of villages this is village component part; 2) enumeration all 1,020,000 household this is household part; and 3) the sample survey of households to collect more detailed information.
Most people in Lao PDR live in rural areas and make their living from agriculture. The Government needs detailed and up-to-date statistics on agriculture to help develop the agricultural sector and improve the welfare of the people.
The Government already has statistics on the area and production of rice and other major crops, as well as livestock numbers. However, there is little information available on such things as: the different types of rice grown, the number of rice farmers, the area planted to minor crops, the use of different inputs, the use of farm machinery, farm size, farm labour, and the age/sex structure of livestock. The Lao Agricultural Census will provide these and many other data.
The Lao Agricultural Census is part of a world-wide programme of agricultural censuses, which started in the 1930’s. Over 120 countries are now participating in that programme; many of these undertake agricultural censuses every ten years. The Lao agricultural Census is the first such census undertaken in Lao PDR. It is being conducted in all 141 districts and is one of the largest and most important statistical collections ever undertaken in the country.
The census was developed based on the guidelines given in FAO Statistical Development Series No.5: Programme for the World Census of Agriculture 2000 (FAO 1996), taking into account the circumstances in Lao PDR. Extra emphasis was given to data on rice, because of its importance in Lao agriculture.
One of the keys to running an agricultural census is defining a suitable "farm" unit. In the Lao Agricultural Census, the farm unit used was the agricultural holding, defined as an economic unit of agricultural production under single management, comprising all livestock raised and all agricultural land operated, regardless of ownership. An agricultural holding is sometimes referred to as a "holding" or a "farm household".
Only household units were included in the census; that is, agricultural activities of businesses, government organisations, etc. were excluded. Usually, an agricultural holding is the same as a household, but sometimes it consists of two or more households operating as a partnership.
The Lao Agricultural Census covered only those units that either:
- operated 0.02 ha or more of agricultural land in the 2010 wet season or the 2010/11 dry season; or
- were raising 2 or more cattle or buffaloes, 5 or more pigs or goats, or 20 or more poultry at the time of the census.
An agricultural holding can be a land holding or a livestock holding. A land holding is one that operated 0.02 ha or more of agricultural land in 2010/11. A livestock holding is an agricultural holding that is not a land holding.
One of the interesting features of the agricultural sector as the market system develops is measuring the extent to which farmers participate in the market economy. In the census, information was collected for each agricultural holding on:
- the main purpose of production on the holding in 2010/11;
- whether, in 2010/11, any production by the holding was sold, whether any was exchanged for other produce, and whether any was used for home consumption.
Census/enumeration data [cen]
Agricultural holdings
- Land holding
- Livestock holding
Version
Version 2.0: Final dataset, anonymized, for Public distribution.
2012-03-04
Scope
The 2010-2011 Lao Agricultural Census covered the following topics:
- Agricultural holdings
- Area of holdings
- Land use
- Land tenure
- Land clearance
- Rice cultivation
- Other crops
- Fruit trees
- Use of inputs
- Livestock
- Poultry
- Percent of holdings with livestock
13.Average animals per holding - Herd structure: cattle & buffaloes
- Use of vaccination
- Use of farm machinery
- Fishing
- Farm labour
- Farming systems of ethnic groups
- Sale of farm produce
| Topic | Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| Agriculture & Rural Development | World Bank |
| Land (policy, resource management) | World Bank |
| Food (production, crisis) | World Bank |
Coverage
National
The Lao Census of Agriculture 2010/11 covered the whole of Lao PDR, including urban areas in Vientiane and elsewhere. The census covered private households only. Agricultural activities of institutional units such as government farms, private companies and schools were excluded.
The Lao Agricultural Census covered only those units that either:
- operated 0.02 ha or more of agricultural land in the 2010 wet season or the 2010/11 dry season; or
- were raising 2 or more cattle or buffaloes, 5 or more pigs or goats, or 20 or more poultry at the time of the census.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Department of Planning | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) |
| Department of Statistics | Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Food and Agriculture Oganization | Expert | |
| Agriculture Census Steering Committee | Government of Lao PDR | Overall responsibility |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Government of Lao | Financial Support |
| Swedish International Development and Co-operation Agency | Financial Support |
| International Fund for Agricultural Development | Financial Support |
| Asian Development Bank | Financial Support |
| Australian Agency for International Development | Financial Support |
| German Agency for Technical Cooperation | Financial Support |
| Agence Francaise de Development | Financial Support |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Provincial Department of Planning and Cooperation | DoS, MPI | Provincial Coodinator and Field Supervisor |
| Provincial Department of Planning | DoP, MAF | Technical Coodinator and Field Supervisor |
| District Planning Office | DoS, MPI | Field data collection |
| District Agriculture and Forestry Office | DoP, MAF | Field data collection |
Sampling
The sample for the sample farm household component was selected using two-stage sampling: a sample of villages was first selected, and then a sample of farm households was selected in each sample village.
In most districts, a sample of between 16 and 22 villages was selected, with 16 farm households selected in each sample village; that is, a sample of between 256 and 352 sample farm households in each district. The more villages or farm households in a district, the bigger the sample that was taken. A smaller sample was taken in districts containing few villages or households and in urban areas.
In each district, the sample of villages was selected using stratified systematic probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling. A list of all villages in Lao PDR was prepared. Villages were divided into urban and rural strata, with rural strata being sampled more heavily than urban strata because of their agricultural importance. The estimated number of households in each village was used as the size measure for PPS sampling.
The sample of farm households in each sample village was selected using stratified systematic random sampling based on a list of all farm households in each village prepared following the household component of the census.
Altogether, 2,620 villages and 41,660 farm households formed the sample.
Survey instrument
The questionnaire has 4 forms:
Form 1: Household listing
Form 3: Village
Form 4: Households (short)
Form 5: Sample household (long)
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2011-02-28 | 2011-04-08 |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| District of Planning Office | Department of Statistics |
| District of Agriculture and Forestry Office | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
Supervision is done at the central, provincial and district levels by the staff of the following offices:
- Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
- Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and Investments
- Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
- Provincial Planning and Investment department, Ministry of Planning and Investments
- Agriculture and Forestry District office, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
- Planning and Investment District office, Ministry of Planning and Investments
The census enumerator reported to a district supervisor. The district supervisor was a staff member of the SPC or MAF district office and was responsible for the day-to-day supervision of data collection work. Specifically, he/she:
• assigned villages to enumerators for enumeration;
• planned and organised enumerators' census data collection work;
• supplied enumerators with all the necessary field materials, such as questionnaires;
• visited enumerators in the field to monitor progress;
• resolved any data collection problems enumerators had;
• received completed questionnaires from enumerators;
• checked that enumerators have filled out the questionnaires correctly.
Enumerators had to meet with their district supervisor at least once during the first few days of the census enumeration to resolve any problems, and then regularly thereafter to keep him/her
informed of progress.
As well as the district supervisors, there were also field supervisors. The field supervisors were staff of the SPC or MAF provincial office or from the Agricultural Census Office in Vientiane. The field supervisors had overall responsibility for the census enumeration. Field supervisors conducted the training the census enumeration.
The Lao Agricultural Census involves the collection of information on crops and livestock from all 1,021,000 households in Lao PDR. It was conducted in all 143 districts in whole country.
The census had three components:
· Village component: a survey of all villages in the country to collect data from village heads on rural infrastructure and services.
· Household component: a survey of all private households in Lao PDR to collect basic data on crops and livestock.
· Sample farm household component: a sample survey of 41,660 farm households to collect detailed data on agricultural activities.
Two types of household data collection were undertaken. In some villages (so-called sample villages), enumerators will collect detailed crop and livestock information from some households, and some basic crop and livestock information from all other households. In all other villages (so-called CE villages), enumerators will collect basic crop and livestock information from all households. No detailed data will be collected.
Two groups of enumerators have been formed for the census data collection. One group collected data in the sample villages (sample enumerators); the other group collected data in the CE villages (CE enumerators).
The timetable for census enumeration was:
10-21 January 2011: Field supervisor training (center & Province).
31 January - 11 February 2011: District supervisor training ).
28 February - 1 April 2011: Data collection.
2-8 April 2011: Deadline for return of questionnaires to the field supervisors (Agriculture Census Office at Vientaine Capital).
The training for enumerators consisted of classroom training, practice classroom interviews and fieldwork. The training will be based on the contents of the Instructions Manual.
Data processing
Errors to be corrected during the data entry:
"Fatal" error; that is, the data are wrong and should be corrected in the editing process (not during the data entry).
"Query" error; that is, the data might be wrong and should be checked during the editing process (not during the data entry).
Data appraisal
Not computed
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vice Minister and Head, Department of Planning | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry | www.maf.gov.la | info@maf.gov.la |
| Vice Minister and Head, Lao Statistics Bureau | Ministry of Planning and Investment | www.lsb.gov.la | nscp@etllao.com |
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | The Statistics Law of Lao PDR guarantees that identities of respondents are kept confidential. The information reported by respondents cannot be disclosed to anyone apart from authorised personnel. The only persons entitled to see the information given on questionnaires are the enumerators, the district supervisor, the field supervisor, and staff from the Agricultural Census Office. Information collected in the census will be used only to produce statistical totals. The information will not be used for tax assessment or any other purposes. No action will be taken against anybody as a result of the information provided in the census. Before being granted access to the dataset, all users have to formally agree: 1. To make no copies of any files or portions of files to which s/he is granted access except those authorized by the data depositor. 2. Not to use any technique in an attempt to learn the identity of any person, establishment, or sampling unit not identified on public use data files. 3. To hold in strictest confidence the identification of any establishment or individual that may be inadvertently revealed in any documents or discussion, or analysis. Such inadvertent identification revealed in her/his analysis will be immediately brought to the attention of the data depositor. |
The data and other materials will not be redistributed or sold to other individuals, institutions, or organizations without the written agreement of the Lao PDR National Data Archive.
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Example:
Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR. Agriculture Census 2010-2011. Ref. LAO_2011_AgC_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [website] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the Department of Planning, MAF and Department of Statistics, MPI bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|
| General Director Department of Planning | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry | www.maf.gov.la |
| General Director Department of Sevice Statistic | Ministry of Planning and Investment | www.nsc.gov.la |
Metadata production
DDI_LAO_2011_AgC_v02_M
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Viengkham SOMSAAT | Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and Investment | Database specialist |
| Mr. Sengphachan KHOUNTHIKOUMMANE | Center for Statistics and Information, Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry | Documentation |
| Accelerated Data Program | International Household Survey Network | Editing for the IHSN Survey Catalog |
2012-05-07
Metadata version
Version 01: Adopted from "DDI_LAO_2010_LAC_v01_M" DDI that was done by metadata producers mentioned in "Metadata Production" section.