Seasonal Agriculture Survey 2015-2016
Rwanda, 2015 - 2016
Get MicrodataIdentification
RWA_2015_SAS_v01_M
Seasonal Agriculture Survey 2015-2016
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Rwanda | RWA |
Agricultural Survey [ag/oth]
The Seasonal Agriculture Survey (SAS) is a study conducted annually by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) from November to September to gather up-to-date information for monitoring progress on agriculture programs and policies in Rwanda.
- Agricultural Season A: starts in September of one calendar year and ends in February of the following calendar year.
- Agricultural Season B: starts in March and ends in July of the same calendar year.
- Agricultural Season C: starts in August and ends with September of the same calendar year.
The main objective of the Seasonal Agriculture Survey (SAS) 2015, was to provide timely, accurate, credible and comprehensive agricultural statistics that would not only describe the structure of agriculture in Rwanda in terms of land use, crop production and livestock and could be used for food and agriculture policy formulation and planning, but also which could also be used for the compilation of national accounts statistics.
In this regard, the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) conducted the Seasonal Agriculture Survey (SAS) from November 2015 to October 2016 to gather up-to-date information for monitoring progress on agriculture programs and policies in Rwanda, including the Second Economic Development (SED) and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) and Vision 2020. This 2016 RSAS covered three agricultural seasons (A, B and C) and provides data on background characteristics of the agricultural operators, farm characteristics (area, yield and production), agricultural practices, agricultural equipment's, use of crop production by agricultural operators and by large scale farmers.
Sample survey data [ssd]
This seasonal agriculture survey focused on the following units of analysis:
- Agricultural operators and large scale farmers
Version
Version 01: Edited, anonymized dataset for public use.
2017-04-17
Scope
The scope of 2016 Seasonal Agriculture Survey concerned demographic and social characteristics of agricultural operators and large scale farmers, and farm characteristics (area, yield and production; agricultural practices; small agricultural equipment and use of crop production).
Coverage
National coverage
The SAS 2016 targeted agricultural operators and large scale farmers operating in Rwanda.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda | Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources | Government of Rwanda | Technical assistance |
| National Agriculture Export Board | Government of Rwanda | Technical assistance |
| Rwanda Agricultural Board | Government of Rwanda | Technical assistance |
| Rwanda Natural Resources Authority | Government of Rwanda | Technical assistance |
| Rwanda Environmental Management Authority | Government of Rwanda | Technical assistance |
| National Bank of Rwanda | Government of Rwanda | Technical assistance |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| The Government of Rwanda | Funded the study |
| The World Bank | Funding partner |
| Ukaid | Funding partner |
| European Union | Funding partner |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Local Government | Ministry of Local Governance | Survey campaign and mobilization |
Sampling
The Seasonal Agriculture Survey (SAS) sample was composed of two categories of respondents: agricultural operators1 and large-scale farmers (LSF).
For the 2016 SAS, NISR used as the sampling method a dual frame sampling design combining selected area frame sample3 segments and a list of large-scale farmers.
NISR used also imagery from RNRA with a very high resolution of 25 centimeters to divide the total land of the country into twelve strata. A total number of 540 segments were spread throughout the country as coverage of the survey with 25,346 and 23,286 agricultural operators in Season A and Season B respectively. From these numbers of agricultural operators, sub-samples were selected during the second phases of Seasons A and B.
It is important to note that in each of agricultural season A and B, data collection was undertaken in two phases. Phase I was mainly used to collect data on demographic and social characteristics of interviewees, area under crops, crops planted, rainfall, livestock, etc. Phase II was mainly devoted to the collection of data on yield and production of crops.
Phase I serves at collecting data on area under different types of crops in the screening process, whereas the Phase II is mainly devoted to the collection of data on demographic, social characteristics of interviewees, together with yields of the different crops produced. Enumerated large-scale farmers (LSF) were 558 in both 2015 Season A and B. The LSF were engaged in either crop farming activities only, livestock farming activities only, or both crop and livestock farming activities.
Agricultural operators are the small-scale farmers within the sample segments. Every selected segment was firstly screened using the appropriate materials such as the segment maps, GIS devices and the screening form. Using these devices, the enumerators accounted for every plot inside the sample segments. All Tracts6 were classified as either agricultural (cultivated land, pasture, and fallow land) or non-agricultural land (water, forests, roads, rocky and bare soils, and buildings).
During Phase I, a complete enumeration of all farmers having agricultural land and operating within the 540 selected segments was undertaken and a total of 25,495 and 24,911 agricultural operators were enumerated respectively in Seasons A and B. Season C considered only 152 segments, involving 3,445 agricultural operators.
In phase II, 50% of the large-scale farmers were undertaking crop farming activities only and 50% of the large-scale farmers were undertaking both crop and livestock farming and were selected for interview. A sample of 199 and 194 large-scale farmers were interviewed in Seasons A and B, respectively, using a farm questionnaire.
From the agricultural operators enumerated in the sample segments during Phase I, a sample of the agricultural operators was designed for Phase II as follows: 5,502 for Season A, 5,337 for Season B and 644 for Season C. The method of probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling at the national level was used. Furthermore, the total number of enumerated large-scale farmers was 774 in 2016 Season A and 622 in Season B.
The Season C considered 152 segments counting 8,987 agricultural operators from which 963 agricultural operators were selected for survey interviews.
The response rate for Seasonal Agriculture Survey is 98%.
The sample weights were calculated for each district considering the total number of segments in each district and the sample size in the specific districts.
Survey instrument
There were two types of questionnaires used for this survey namely; Screening Questionnaire and Farm Questionnaires. A Screening Questionnaire was used to collect information that enabled identification of an agricultural operator or large scale farmer and his or her land use.
Farm questionnaires were of two types:
a) Phase I: Farm Questionnaire, this survey was used to collect data on characteristics of agricultural operators, crop identification and area, inputs (seeds, fertilizers, labor) for agricultural operators and large scale farmers.
b) Phase 2: Farm Questionnaire was used in the collection of data on crop production and use of production.
It is important to mention that all these farm questionnaires were subjected to two/three rounds of data quality checking. The first round was conducted by the enumerator and the second round was conducted by the team leader to check if questionnaires had been well completed by enumerators.
For season C, after screening, an interview was conducted for each selected tract/agricultural operator using one consolidated Farm Questionnaire. All the survey questionnaires used were published in both English and Kinyarwanda languages.
Data collection
| Start | End | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-11-05 | 2016-01-27 | Season A |
| 2016-03-08 | 2016-06-30 | Season B |
| 2016-09-13 | 2016-10-02 | Season C |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda | Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning |
The survey used 118 Enumerators organized around 35 field teams and 28 team leaders giving a ratio of one team leader to 4 Enumerators.
At the bottom of the hierarchy, there are enumerators who would be assisted by a team leader also known as a controller. His/ her main function is to introduce the enumerators to the various key people from the sector to the villages leaders up to operators in the Secondary Sampling Unit (known as Segment), and assist enumerators during the whole course of the survey
A higher-level supervision staff from NISR visited the field teams during each phase of data collection to ensure quality control.
Responsibilities of a Team Leader was to manage the interviewers to ensure successful completion and quality of data collected in a given time period for the fieldwork.
He/she was expected to record information about the fieldwork by completing the fieldwork forms, which track the status of completion of the work in the field, document problems in the field and solutions taken to resolve these problems, and track the data entry process. Specifically, his/her tasks included:
- Introduce the survey and interviewers at local level where the survey is administered.
- Review questionnaires and check that it has been correctly filled in.
- Monitor and attend some interviews and make comments on the worker's performance.
- Meet frequently with each member of the group to discuss, improve and organize work.
- Check the availability of all the necessary items before going on field.
- Help workers to solve the problems they encounter in dealing with respondents who are not responsive to questions or refuse to be interviewed.
- Manage the team's work schedule, including tracking questionnaires completed in the field, questionnaires assigned to the data entry team, and questionnaires that require correction by interviewers.
- Make sure all the big farmers are identified and surveyed.
- Communicate with NISR/MINAGRI staff, regarding field issues, as necessary.
He/she was responsible for helping the interviewers to identify the segments and tracts that have been allocated to them, resolving any problems with reluctant operators observing interviews and making checks by visiting the operators after the survey to verify data.
The 2016 SAS used 118 enumerators grouped in 35 field teams and 28 team leaders. All fieldwork staff in 2016 possesses a degree in Agronomy Science and was trained before starting data collection. Higher level supervision staff from NISR visited the field teams during each phase of data collection to ensure quality control.
Enumerators and Team leaders had adequate materials composed of Enumerator's instruction manual, Screening Questionnaire, Farm Questionnaire, measuring tapes, rulers, pens, pencils, calculators, weighing scales, Global Positioning System (GPS), Personal Data System (PDA), maps, rain coats, boots, umbrellas, first aid equipment, etc. Each team was assigned a vehicle.
Before proceeding to the field, enumerators and their team leaders checked if they had all required materials for their fieldwork. All staff was required to arrive early on the field (Segment or LSF). Upon arrival in the field, the enumerators and their team Leaders took the related geographical coordinates that were used by supervisors to know the real starting time of the fieldwork.
The next step was the segment delineation or LSF and taking of geographical coordinates for the identified landmarks to allow supervisors to check if the segment was delineated appropriately and to ensure the collected data related to the plots inside the appropriate segment or LSF.
Data processing
Data editing took place at different stage. Firstly, the filled questionnaires were repatriated at NISR for office editing and coding before data entry started. Data entry of the completed and checked questionnaires was undertaken at the NISR office by 20 staff trained in using the CSPro software.
To ensure appropriate matching of data in the completed questionnaires and plot area measurements from the GIS unit, a "lookup" file was integrated in the CSPro data entry program to confirm the identification of each agricultural operator or LSF before starting data entry. Thereafter, data were entered in computers, edited and summarized in tables using SPSS and Excel.
Data appraisal
All Farm questionnaires were subjected to two/three rounds of data quality checking. The first round was conducted by the enumerator and the second round was conducted by the team leader to check if questionnaires had been well completed by enumerators. And in most cases, questionnaires completed by one enumerator were peer-reviewed by another enumerator before being checked by the Team leader.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda | Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning | http://microdata.statistics.gov.rw/ | info@statistics.gov.rw |
To access to this statistical data, the user agrees NISR microdata access terms and conditions.
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:
National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. Seasonal Agriculture Survey (SAS) 2015-2016. Ref. RWA_2015_SAS_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [url] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
(c)2016, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Portals Management Officer | NISR | rwanda.nada@statistics.gov.rw | www.statistics.gov.rw |
| Director General | NISR | info@statistics.gov.rw | www.statistics.gov.rw |