Agricultural Census 2019
Portugal, 2019 - 2020
Identification
PRT_2019_RA_v01_M_v01_A_ESS
Agricultural Census 2019
Recenseamento Agrícola 2019
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Portugal | PRT |
Agricultural Census [ag/census]
The first reference to an exhaustive, systematic and organized survey of statistical data on Portuguese agriculture dates back to 1934, with the General inventory of livestock and poultry (Arrolamento Geral de Gados e Animais de Capoeira), which was repeated in 1940 and 1972. Since the 1950s, Statistics Portugal (INE, Instituto Nacional de Estatística) has been carrying out uninterrupted censuses of agriculture for the Mainland every ten years, and since 1989 for the whole country. This was followed by the general agricultural censuses carried out in 1999, 2009, and 2019.
The Agricultural Census is a large-scale statistical operation covering all agricultural holdings carried out by Statistics Portugal. It is part of an EU-wide programme of agricultural censuses carried out in 2020 under EU Regulation 2018/1091 on integrated farm statistics and conducted under the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (https://www.fao.org/world-census-agriculture/en/). The objective of the Agricultural Census 2019 is to collect useful information for the purposes of monitoring, evaluating, and revising the common agricultural policy.
Census/enumeration data [cen]
Agricultural holdings
Scope
The census scope covered agricultural activities (crops and livestock production).
The questionnaires collected information on:
- Identification of the holding situation
- Administrative data on operating aid and subsidies
- General characteristics of the holding
- Arable land
- Permanent crops
- Grassland
- Cultivated mushrooms
- Forest stands
- Irrigation
- Soil tillage practices in temporary crops (main area)
- Livestock
- Animal housing
- Manure/slurry management and application techniques/use of fertilizers
- Machinery and safety conditions
- Agricultural population and family labour force
- Non-family labour force
- Other gainful activities of the holding
- Services provided by agricultural organizations
- Destination of agricultural production
- Income
- Continuity of the agricultural holding
Coverage
The Agricultural Census 2019 covered the entire country, the Mainland and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.
The statistical unit was the agricultural holding defined as a single unit, both technically and economically, that has a single management and that undertakes economic activities in agriculture in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 belonging to groups A.01.1, A.01.2, A.01.3, A.01.4, A.01.5 or to the 'maintenance of agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental condition' of group A.01.6 within the economic territory of the Union, either as its primary or secondary activity. Regarding activities of class A.01.49, only the activities "Raising and breeding of semi-domesticated or other live animals" (with the exception of raising of insects) and "Bee-keeping and production of honey and beeswax" are included.
A threshold of 1 ha of utilised agricultural area (UAA) was applied for the Mainland. However, the holdings had to fulfil a minimum area (or production) for certain specific crops or the existence of livestock, either on the day of the interviewer's visit or quantity of production in the reference year, above the established thresholds. For the Autonomous Regions the threshold was lowered to 0.1 ha of UAA.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Statistics Portugal (INE, Instituto Nacional de Estatística), Economic Statistics Department, Agriculture and Environment Statistics Unit |
Sampling
The Agricultural Census 2019 was composed of a core module and three thematic modules: on labour force and other gainful activities, rural development, and animal housing and manure management. One-off complete enumeration was used in the Agricultural Census 2019 even for the thematic modules.
To support the fieldwork of the Agricultural Census 2019, a list of producers was created by combining information from the Farm Base (BEA), developed with data from the Agricultural Census 2009, with information from administrative sources.
Survey instrument
Three different questionnaires were designed, one for the Mainland and one for each Autonomous Region (Azores and Madeira). All modules were combined in a single questionnaire.
The census covered 21 items out of the 23 essential items recommended in the WCA 2020.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2019-10-25 | 2020-05-31 |
Reference day:
- 1 September 2019, for inventory items, such as livestock heads
Reference period:
- from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019, for land area and labour force characteristics
- the last 12 months, for animal grazing, animal housing, manure application and storage
- the last three years, for irrigated area, landscape features and support for rural development
- Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]
- Pen and Paper Interview [papi]
Census activities involved a total of 1600 technicians, of whom 238 were hired for a fixed-term contract and 1300 providers of services (interviewers), in addition to staff from Statistics Portugal with supervisory functions.
Data collection for the Agricultural Census 2019 was carried out, in person, by an interviewer using Pen-and-Paper Interviews (PAPI). Due to the concurrent COVID-19, data was also collected via Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI).
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Statistics Portugal has a quality management system in place following the principles of the ISO 9001:2015 Standard and with a systematic and process-oriented approach in accordance with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. This system comprises a wide range of instruments, methods, and activities covering process documentation, performance assessment, and user relations. Statistics Portugal is part of the European Statistical System and has adopted the European Statistics Code of Practice, since its first edition (2005), as firm guidance for the success of its mission. Since its last revision (November 2017), the Code comprises the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System, 16 Principles and 84 indicators of best practices and standards for each of the Principles, defining the European benchmarks for the statistical activity, covering the institutional environment, statistical processes, and statistical outputs.
Data processing
In the Agricultural Census 2019, interviewers recorded the data collected with a paper questionnaire, using laptops at home. During the data collection phase, validations, calculation of totalizers, selections and some analysis were performed, at the national or regional level, using the software application SAGE CRM, and the embedded Apache Tomcat Java Server Application, on Oracle database. Errors were viewed online or through listings. Data recorded were analyzed by field chain staff to detect possible inconsistencies, incorrectly implemented concepts, or misalignments with local/regional circumstances, using the Error Report, the Validate function, the Selection module and the Comparison with other sources module. Questionnaires with problems not solved in office, were returned to the field. At the regional and central offices, additional quality checks were carried out on aggregated data. In addition, telephone contact was made for five percent of the interviews to verify the veracity of the interview.
Data Access
For additional information on data access and use, please contact the Statistics Portugal.
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ine.pt
The data request procedure and the data request form are available at "How to apply for microdata access?" at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/microdata/farm-statistics.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Statistics Department, Agriculture and Environment Statistics Unit | Statistics Portugal (INE, Instituto Nacional de Estatística) | [email protected] | www.ine.pt |
Metadata production
DDI_PRT_2019_RA_v01_M_v01_A_ESS_FAO
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Statistics Department, Agriculture and Environment Statistics Unit | Statistics Portugal (INE, Instituto Nacional de Estatística) | Metadata producer | |
| Statistics Division | ESS | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | Metadata adapted for FAM |