DDI_MDA_2011_AgC_v01_M_WB Development Economics Data Group <_value> NADA Version 01 (October 2014) General Agricultural Census 2011 AgC 2011 / GAC 2011 MDA_2011_AgC_v01_M National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry of Economy Food and Agriculture Organization NADA Republic of Moldova Agriculture and Environment Division Information and Communication with Mass-media Service Agricultural Census [ag/census] The 2011 General Agricultural Census (GAC) is the first census carried out in the Republic of Moldova, conducted under an integrated statistical program, which was elaborated by taking into consideration both the EC Regulation no.1166/2008 of the European Parliament and EU Council on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods, and the recommendations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for World Programme of the Census of Agriculture 2010. The goal of General Agricultural Census (GAC) is to provide the central and local public authorities and the large public with relevant statistical data for the substantiation of national policies in agriculture and rural development, as well as for the negotiations for accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union. The census makes it possible to obtain the necessary data for the substantiation of the economic and social policies in the field of agriculture and, as well, provides the necessary information for the elaboration of the Statistical Farm Register, as sampling basis for the statistical sample-based surveys in agriculture. The information obtained on the basis of GAC put in evidence the structural changes produced as a result of the reforms that took place in agriculture and shows the real situation of this economic branch. The main GAC objectives were the following: • to obtain exhaustive data on the structural characteristics of agriculture following the transformations that took place in the post-privatization period; • to provide complex and comparable data on the farming activity at national level and at the level of rayons, as well as particular data for level 1 administrative-territorial units; • to determine the typology of the agricultural holdings, the utilization of the agricultural land, the type of activities carried out on agricultural holdings, the productive potential of the agricultural holdings depending on the utilized agricultural area, the parcelling level, irrigation, fertilization, livestock herds, agricultural buildings, agricultural equipment, labour force, etc; • to consolidate the system of agricultural statistics, to organize a sound database operational during the inter-censuses periods, which will make possible to be carried out a system of sample surveys in agriculture, starting from an updated database. Moldova The General Agricultural Census 2011 covered the entire territory of the country (except for the territories of the Administrative-territorial unit on the left side of the Nistru River and of the Bender municipality), both the rural and the urban areas, which encompassed all agricultural holdings, including the population auxiliary households, regardless of their size. - Agricultural holding The agricultural holding, as statistical observation unit, was defined as a technical economic unit (with or without juridical status) having a single management and carrying out agricultural activities by utilizing agricultural land and/or livestock breeding or develops activities related to maintaining agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental conditions, whether as principal activity or as a secondary activity. Census/enumeration data [cen] The 2011 General Agricultural Census covered the following topics: – General information on the agricultural holding; – Land use; – Livestock herds; – Agricultural buildings, technical means and equipment; – Labour force; – Phyto-sanitary products, fertilizers and irrigations; – Organic farming, soil degradation and rural development; – Non-agricultural activities. National Bureau of Statistics Face-to-face [f2f] The basic tool, which contains the information on the agricultural holdings collected during the census, was the census questionnaire. GAC Questionnaire (form) – it is a document with a pre-established format, which contains the information with regard to the agricultural holdings, collected during the general agricultural census. The elaboration of the GAC questionnaires forms was coordinated with the interested institutions and their final format was approved by NBS. During the general agricultural census, 2 types of questionnaires were used: • 1-GAC form; • 2-GAC form. Each questionnaire was used for obtaining data from a certain category of agricultural units, namely: Questionnaire (form) 1-GAC – was used for the following categories of agricultural holdings: - agricultural units with and without juridical status; - auxiliary agricultural units of other enterprises; - population auxiliary households from rural area; - the tenants of horticultural plots and the population auxiliary households from urban area, who comply with at least one of the following conditions: • have under tenure agricultural land of 10 ares and over; • have under tenure land under greenhouses of 1 are (100 m2) and over; • have at least 1 animal from the species: bovines, swine, sheep, goats; • have 20 and over of poultry heads. Questionnaire (form) 2-GAC – was used for the small size agricultural units, namely: - members of fruit-tree associations owners of plots under orchards and vineyards; - population households from the urban area, which simultaneously meet the following conditions: • agricultural land area less than 10 ares; • areas under greenhouses up to 1 are; • do not have animals from the species: bovines, swine, sheep, goats, horses; • have up to 20 poultry heads. Data registration was done by enumerators, on the basis of the respondents’ free declaration and it did not impose the respondents’ obligation to present certain justificatory documents.For agricultural holdings with juridical status and for agricultural holdings without juridical status bigger than 10 ha, data recording was done by self-registering. For agricultural holdings without juridical status with less than 10 ha, data recording was done by direct interview. To ensure the best coverage of agriculture, a modular approach was used for the GAC 2011 Programme. Data collection was done by the help of two distinct census modules: 1. a core census module, conducted on the basis of complete enumeration, for covering all agricultural holdings, with or without juridical status; this survey module was based on a long questionnaire, which provided a large range of data; 2. a supplementary census module, conducted on sample basis, for the small size agricultural units having less than 0.1 ha and/or less than 20 poultry; this survey module was based on a short questionnaire, which provided key data on agricultural activity developed by the small size agricultural units under observation: (a) auxiliary population households from urban area with a land area less than 0.1 ha and breeding less than 20 poultry and for (b) horticultural plots holders (members of the orchard association/owners). Reference moment and period of reference Data collection for GAC took place in the period 15 March – 15 April 2011. 1) March 1 2011 was the reference moment for: - livestock herds; - agricultural buildings; - machinery and equipment into ownership; 2) The agricultural year 2010 (1 November 2009 – 31 October 2010) was the reference period for: - land tenure; - land use; - irrigated land; - loans and subsidies; - destination of agricultural production; - labour force; - utilization of phyto-sanitary products, fertilizers; - utilization of machinery and equipment; - non-agricultural activities; 3) The last 3 years was the reference period for: - the rural development measures of which benefitted the agricultural unit. 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 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.