On 1 August, Kazakhstan will launch a national agricultural census. This will allow for an objective and holistic assessment of the state of agriculture and a reliable source of data for the formation of state policy in this sector.

Last year, as part of the pilot, the agricultural census was tested in selected localities to identify possible barriers and problem areas in advance for timely elimination. Chairman of the Bureau of National Statistics Maksat Turlubayev informed about the results of the pilot project and the tasks to be solved before the full-scale census, at the meeting in the government, chaired by Deputy Minister - Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin.

Last year, the pilot census was conducted from 20 August to 30 September and covered 54 settlements. A total of 32,400 households attended the survey, of which 27,100 were interviewed, accounting for 83.5% of the total. The online survey was attended by 18.6 thousand respondents, including 13.3 thousand organised households and 5.3 thousand households. A total of 45.7 thousand respondents participated in the pilot project.

"About 2% of households refused to participate in the survey. Among the non-surveyed objects, 36% turned out to be abandoned houses or undeveloped dacha plots, and 5% were non-residential buildings," Maksat Turlubayev said.

Within the framework of the pilot, administrative data from the information systems of the Ministry of Agriculture on identification of farm animals and the register of agricultural machinery were integrated, and SMS-messaging to agricultural organisations was conducted.

"Among the positive aspects of the pilot agricultural census it is worth noting the active participation of akimats in the organisation and conduct of the census, high readiness of agricultural producers to participate in the census and a significant level of involvement of the population in the online survey. At the same time, difficulties in conducting the survey in urban and dacha areas, insufficient equipment of interviewers with necessary materials and tools, and problems with misinformation were revealed. These difficulties were expected and now we are working on their elimination," Maksat Turlubaev noted.

At the meeting, the participants also discussed the issues of collection and processing of primary data of respondents, preparation of questionnaires, hiring of interviewers, ensuring access of akimats of aul and settlement districts to the information system of the BNS through the UTS of the CS and others. At the end of the meeting, Serik Zhumangarin gave necessary instructions for full preparation for the agricultural census in 2025.

#Agriculture #Serik Zhumangarin