Antigua and Barbuda Presentation to

the Workshop for the Caribbean on

the FAO/UNFPA Guidelines:

“Integrating Population and Housing

with Agricultural Censuses: with

selected country practices"

Port of Spain, Trinidad Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

10-12, June, 2013

Overview

Introduction and background

Objectives of the 2007 Agricultural Census

Methodology and Key definitions

Identification and Location of a Holding

Planning and logistical issues

Weaknesses of the census(formulate strategy)

Tabulated and graphical excerpts from the 2007 and 1984 census reports showing typology and groupings

Suggestions for the way forward

Introduction

• The Government of Antigua and Barbuda conducted its third Census of Agriculture in November, 2007

• Previous censuses were conducted in 1961 and 1984.

• Since then, the agricultural sector has undergone a number of structural changes both in terms of land use, production patterns and demographics

Antigua

Introduction continued…

• The Government of Antigua and Barbuda(AB), together with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), undertook this agricultural census to:

oEnsure that current data on the status of the sector was available to provide a better understanding of the changes that it has undergone, and the results of which will serve as the sector’s database

oFacilitate decision making and policy formulation

Objectives of the 2007 Agricultural

Census • To provide data on the structure of agriculture,

especially for small units, and to enable detailed cross-tabulations

• To provide data to be used as benchmarks for current agricultural statistics

• To provide frames for agricultural sample surveys

• To provide data to help monitor progress towards global development targets, in

particular the Millennium Development Goals

Methodology/ Census Administration

• The 2007 Agriculture Census (AC) was a collaborative exercise between the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Marine Resources and Agro-Industry (MALMRA) and the National Statistics Office(NSO)

• Director of Agriculture and the Government Chief Statistician had overall responsibility

• Day-to-day work headed by the Senior Statistician • Extension Officer appointed to coordinate the census

activities for the MALMRA. • As far as the field work was concerned, 160 enumerators

canvassed the country collecting the information

Methodology Continued…

• Supervised by 40 supervisor with a ratio of 1:4 • AB is divide into 288 Enumeration Districts(EDs) for

census taking purposes each containing approx. 100 households

• The ED's have stable physical boundaries as well as a map for each ED

• Each enumerator was expected to canvass all the EDs assigned to him/her, locate ALL the Households within the physical boundaries and identify ALL the holdings within these households

• Enumerators were instructed to report to the field supervisor, daily

Methodology Continued…

• A list of non-household holdings compiled by the Ministry were separately enumerated

• By law( General Statistics Act, 1975), all involved in the exercise were informed to take the necessary precaution to ensure confidentiality regarding data collected

Methodology Continued…

• 2007 Agricultural Census attempted to cover

the whole country with the exception of certain EDs in the commercial centre of St John’s and the expatriate enclave of Jolly Harbour and Mill Reef

• Those households meeting certain criteria established to identify the agricultural holdings were required to complete a longer holding questionnaire

Key definitions

• Dwelling A physical building used for human habitation;

typically a house, but also a block of flats or other building designed for multiple household occupancy

• Household oA private household consists of one or more persons

living together (i.e. sleeping in the same household most nights of a week) and sharing at least one daily meal

o Usually formed by a family group but it may consist of two or more families or a group of unrelated persons(students) or a person living alone

Key definitions continued…

• Agricultural Holding or Farm

An agricultural holding (or farm) is an economic unit of agricultural production under single management comprising all livestock kept and land used wholly or partly for agricultural production purposes, without regard to title, legal form or size

• The requirement of sharing the same production means should be fulfilled to a degree to justify the consideration of various parcels as components of one economic unit

Item 1984 2007

No. of Cattle 1 or more 2 or more

No. of Sheep 2 or more 5 or more

No. of Goats 2 or more 5 or more

No. of Poultry 12 or more 25 or more

No. of Fruit Trees 10 or more 20 or more

Comparison of Holding Identification

Definitions

• In comparing the 1,226 holdings found in 2007 with the 4,658 found in 1984, the table above demonstrates the impact of the definition of a holding

Key definitions continued…

• Economic units engaged solely in forestry and logging or fishing or agricultural services are not considered agricultural holdings because these economic activities were outside the definition of agriculture used for the 2007 AB census

• Agricultural Holder or Farmer

oThe Agricultural Holder (or farmer) is the person or persons who exercise management control over the agricultural holding's operations and who take major decisions regarding resource use

Key definitions continued…

oThe holder(s) has technical and economic

responsibility for the holding and may undertake all responsibilities directly, or delegate responsibilities related to day-to-day work management, to a hired manager.

oWhen two or more persons jointly operate a holding

on an equal basis, all such persons should be considered as holders and their information recorded on the holding form

Key definitions continued…

oWhen two or more persons belonging to different households operate the same holding, each one was considered as a joint holder on the same questionnaire(as is the case in partnerships) In this case, the information about the holder's household will be collected for each household of the joint holders but care must be taken NOT to complete more than one Holding Form

oA holder can operate land which is owned and/or rented from others and/or on a squatter basis and/or under any other form of land tenure

Key definitions continued…

• Parcel o A parcel is any piece of land, under a single tenure

arrangement, entirely surrounded by land belonging to another person, water, main road, forest, etc. not forming part of this holding

o However, a parcel may consist of one or more plots or fields adjacent to each other. A field is a piece of land in a parcel separated from the rest of the parcel by easily recognizable demarcation lines, such as paths, and/or hedges. A field may consist of different plots

o A plot is a part or whole of a field on which a specific crop or crop mixture is cultivated

(a parcel can only have one form of tenure)

IDENTIFYING A HOLDING

• The agricultural activity of each household was to be identified and the level of activity recorded

• Many households in Antigua and Barbuda have only a very low level of agricultural activity (over 80%). Some even have zero agricultural activity

• The following minimum size criteria had been established for the census: The presence of any of the following constitutes a 'holding‘:

IDENTIFYING A HOLDING…

At least two heads of cattle AND/OR breeding cattle (at least one calf born in 2007).

At least 5 sheep OR goats OR pigs AND/OR breeding such animals (at least one birth in2007)

A combination of at least 5 sheep, goats and pigs. At least 25 poultry AND/OR annual sales of eggs

from these poultry of at least EC$1000 AND/OR annual sales of poultry meat from these poultry of at least EC$1000.

At least 20 bearing fruit trees AND/OR annual sales of fruit from these trees of at least EC$1000

IDENTIFYING A HOLDING…

At least 10 Banana/Finger Rose Mats AND/OR annual sales of bananas from these plants of at least EC$1000

At least 10 Plantain Mats AND/OR annual sales of plantains from these plants of at least EC$1000

At least one eight of an acre (0.12 ACRES OR 5445 Sq. Ft. (75 x 75 Ft)) of any garden crop AND/OR annual sales of garden crops from this land of at least EC$1000 (garden crops include vegetables, ground provisions, food crops, pineapple, papaya, herbs or any other crop not elsewhere included).

IDENTIFYING A HOLDING…

• Any livestock or poultry belonging to managers, workers or relatives that graze or stay on lands of holdings where these persons work or stay must be considered as independent holdings from the main ones where the livestock or poultry are kept

• Any livestock or poultry belonging to one person or household, or to several persons or households, that graze by the roadside, on communal grazing grounds both government and private, etc., must be considered a holding (these cases constitute the category of "landless holdings“)

IDENTIFYING A HOLDING…

• Any land assigned to managers, workers or relatives for their own use for service payments must be considered as an independent holding from the main one that is assigning the land

• Any land operated independently by a household member for agricultural production(independently means that the agricultural operation and the production obtained is not shared for all members of the household) it must be considered as a farm different from the farms operated by other household members

• Any land operated by persons with no rights for agricultural use of the land on which the crops, trees or pastures are grown, must be considered a holding

IDENTIFYING A HOLDING…

• Various economic agricultural production units under the same ownership but operated by different persons must be considered separate holdings

-Determining who are the key decision makers is an important step in identifying and evaluating the holding

Location of the Holding

• Each holding must be assigned to one ED

However:

1) If the holding is entirely inside one ED, then the holding is assigned to that ED

2) If the holding is partially in one ED and partially in others, it must be assigned to the ED where the largest proportion of land is located

Planning and Logistical issues

regarding integration of 2007 AC with

the NCOPH • No reliable lists of farmers in Antigua and Barbuda

existed at the time the Census of Agriculture was being planned

• For improved efficiency and effectiveness, FAO recommended obtaining the list of households engaged in agricultural activities as part of the National Census of Population and Housing (NCOPH), either through questions on the household form or as part of the listing exercise prior to the NCOPH( avoid going door to door just to just to ID farming households)

Planning and Logistical issues

regarding integration of 2007 AC with

the NCOPH… • However the next Census of Population and

Housing was planned for 2011 • This meant waiting an additional 4 years and was

considered to be too far in the future given that: o no census of agriculture had been conducted since

1984/5 o funding was in place • A decision was taken to move ahead quickly with

the planning and conduct of a Census of Agriculture in November 2007

• For the next AC, consideration should be given to doing a joint operation with the NCOPH.

Weaknesses of the 2007 AC

Training was organised by the National Statistic Office(NSO) and the Census started in November 2007

• Despite the best efforts of the organisers, serious under-reporting was identified in the analysis of the field work

• The database contained records from 18,976 households out of an estimated 27,000; some 8,000 households or 30% of households were not enumerated

Estimated Coverage of the Census by Parish

Parish

Actual

No. of

HH 2007

No. of

HH 2001

Estimated

No. of

HH 2007

Coverage

% of

Estimate

City 5076 7907 8703 58.32

Rural 6117 6861 7549 81.03

St. George 1874 2223 2445 76.64

St Peter 1230 1491 1637 75.14

St Phillip 932 986 1086 85.82

St Paul 1492 2503 2755 54.16

St Mary 1889 2069 2276 83.00

Barbuda 366 456 501 73.05

TOTAL 18976 24496 26952 70.41

Weaknesses continued…

• Whilst there is strong evidence of under-reporting of households, there is less evidence of under-reporting of holdings

• Another weakness in the 2007 AC was the lack of proper checking and control of households with holdings:

Each batch of forms should have been scrutinised to ensure that each household identified as having a holding had completed a holding form

Weaknesses continued…

• There were differences between the number of household forms indicating the presence of a holding and the actual number of holding forms

• Overall, 1,295 holdings were identified on the household form but only 1,226 household forms have been processed

Weaknesses continued…

• Data processing also presented some challenges, originally the intention was to scan household questionnaires(delayed for more than a year)

• Following the census, some 60% (10,000) of the forms were scanned and approx. 3,000 validated. At this point the server ‘crashed’

• 3,000 validated records were stored as a microsoft ACCESS file, the other non-validated records could not be recovered

• Decision the taken to process remaining forms by direct key board entry

Fig. 2.3

113 107 119 106

299 274 285233

628

583

127 125

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

South

East

South

Central

South

West

North

East

North

Central /

West

Barbuda

Number of Holding Household Members by Sex

Male

Female

Fig. 2.5

0.00

200.00

400.00

600.00

800.00

1000.00

1200.00

1400.00

1600.00

Area (acres) of Holdings

1984 & 2007

1984 618.01 1005.04 1149.82 387.80 1456.72 201.26

2007 564.73 274.38 463.59 579.27 1191.20 170.40

South

East

South

Central

South

West

North

East

North

Central/Barbuda

Fig. 2.8

Area of Parcels by Type of Tenure

Rented Gov't

53%

Rented Private

8%

Squatting

Private

2%

Owned

21%

Other

6%

Squatting Gov't

2%

Family Land

8%

Fig. 2.13

Antibiotics

Land

Irrigated

Crop

Rotation

Farm

Records

GAPs

Improved

Seed/Plant

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Number of Holding Engaged in Farming Practices

Fig. 2.14

70.2

1

83.9

9

29.7

9

16.0

10 50 100 150 200

Male

Female

Percentage of Persons Engaged in

Farming Activities by Sex

Crops

Livestock

Number and Percentage of Persons Mainly Responsible for

Farming Activities on Holding by Type and Sex

Type of Farming Activity

Gender

Total Male %

Fem

ale %

Crops

Land Preparation 606 77.8 173 22.2 779

Planting 576 69.1 258 33.1 834

Weeding 468 67.4 226 29.0 694

Application of Chemicals 340 81.0 80 10.3 420

Harvesting 540 64.5 297 38.1 837

Marketing 379 65.5 200 25.7 579

Livestock/Poultry

Grazing/Tethering 323 86.6 50 6.4 373

Feeding & Watering 348 80.4 85 10.9 433

Farm Sanitation 240 84.2 45 5.8 285

Grooming 196 86.3 31 4.0 227

Bee Keeping

Working the Hive 2

100.

0 0 0.0 2

Cutting Honey 6

100.

0 0 0.0 6

TOTAL 4024

144

5 5469

Lessons Learnt

• Census data must be stored with multiple backups (maintenance of confidentiality)

• The recommendation to integrate AC and COHP appears to be the most feasible approach to strengthen the national statistical system and should be pursued( utilising the core module)

• Training and capacity building is an immediate priority

• Better monitoring, evaluation and control measure must be put in place for the future

Thank you for you kind attention