General Census of Agriculture 2020
Gabon, 2019 - 2023
Identification
GAB_2020_RGA_v01_M_v01_A_ESS
General Census of Agriculture 2020
Recensement Général de l’Agriculture 2020
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Gabon | GAB |
Agricultural Census [ag/census]
The General Census of Agriculture 2020 is the third agricultural census to be carried out in the country. The first agricultural census was conducted in 1960, and the second in 1972/1973.
The General Census of Agriculture 2020 was conducted with the aim of producing key data on the structure of agriculture, and this statistical information plays a crucial role in evaluating achievements, making choices, and informing decision-making for better resource allocation.
Census/enumeration data [cen]
Agricultural holdings
Scope
The census scope covered agricultural activities (crops and livestock), as well as aquaculture, fisheries and forestry activities.
Community-level data were collected in the census. The questionnaire was designed to collect village-level data, where the village was considered as a grouping of populations at the head of which was a village chief. Identifying villages and their leaders was a decisive and complex action to take. This complexity was due to the fact that all the villages in the country are merged into groupings which can very often also have the name of a village. Therefore, it was first necessary to clearly identified the name of the grouping of villages as well as the different villages that make it up. Once this had been done, each village chief was invited with his elders or committee of elders to a guided group interview, based on the content of the questionnaire.
The questionnaire collected information on:
- Household Identification
- Household Geographic Location
- Control and Supervision Information
- Household Members Characteristics
- Housing and Living Conditions
- Women's Participation in Agricultural Decision-Making
- Agricultural Holders / Agricultural Operators
- Crop Farming Operators (excluding forestry)
- Plot Questionnaire
- Livestock Operators
- Livestock Site Questionnaire
- Fishing Operators
- Aquaculture Operators
- Forestry Operators
Coverage
The General Census of Agriculture 2020 covered the entire country.
The statistical unit was the agricultural holding, defined as an economic unit of agricultural or forestry production under single management comprising all livestock and all land used in whole or in part for agricultural production, regardless of title, legal form or size. Single management may be exercised by an individual, by a household, jointly by two or more individuals or households, or by a legal person such as a company, collective enterprise, cooperative or government agency. This comprised both (i) holdings belonging to the household sector which are managed by members of the household and (ii) holdings outside the household sector, such as corporations, cooperatives and government institutions. The census also covered fisheries and aquacultural households.
No cut-off threshold or other exclusions were applied in the census.
Three types of agricultural holdings were identified: traditional farms, modern farms, and semi-modern farms. Modern farms were defined as large holdings formally registered as a business (entry in the commercial register, statistical number, payment of taxes, maintenance of formal accounting records, etc.). Semi-modern farms were defined as holdings that met intensification conditions, were equipped with equipment other than tools and small equipment and with infrastructure adapted to the activity, were subject to economic monitoring but without being formally registered. They also had to meet the following thresholds:
- 1000 m2 of area of orchard
- 1 ha of area of food crops or trees
- 10 head of animals (cattle, sheep, goats and pigs) for animal production
- 100 head of improved breed poultry
- 3 ponds (breeding ponds, pre-fattening ponds, fattening ponds) for fish farming
- 1 canoe with two permanent employees for fishing
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| General Directorate of Statistics (Direction Générale de la Statistique) |
| Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (Ministère de l'Agriculture, de l'Élevage et du Développement Rural) |
| Ministry of Economy and Recovery (Ministere de l’Economie, De La Relance) |
| Name |
|---|
| Ministry of Water and Forests in charge of the Preservation of the Environment, Climate and Human-Wildlife Conflict (Ministère des Eaux et des Forêts, chargé de la Préservation de l'Environnement, du Climat et du Conflit Homme-Faune) |
Sampling
The country was divided into enumeration areas (EAs). In each EA, a complete enumeration of households, farms, socioeconomic infrastructure (education, health, and housing facilities) and agricultural producer organizations (OPAs) was carried out and the listings from this enumeration constituted the frames.
The core module was collected using complete enumeration in traditional, semi-modern and modern (enterprise) agricultural holdings. The holdings identified during the enumeration of the core module served as the frame of holdings for the supplementary modules.
The sampling design for the supplementary module on crop and animal production was two-stage stratified sampling. In the first stage, 660 EAs were allocated by province proportionally to the size of each province in terms of the number of agricultural households. In each province, EAs were selected with probabilities proportional to size using implicit stratification (after sorting the EAs by department, commune/district, arrondissement/community, canton, urban or rural).
In the second stage, 15 agricultural households were drawn using systematic sampling with equal probabilities. The module was launched and covered data for the second agricultural season, but not the first.
Survey instrument
Four questionnaires were used for data collection:
- Enumeration questionnaire
- Household questionnaire (core module)
- Modern and semi-modern holding questionnaire
- OPA questionnaire
The census covered 19 items out of the 23 essential items recommended in the WCA 2020.
A community questionnaire was designed to collect village-level data such as general information, infrastructure, socio-economic organizations, natural resources, and main difficulties by type of activity.
Data collection
| Start | End | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-12-19 | 2020-03-31 | Core module |
| 2020-09-07 | 2020-10-07 | Core module |
| 2023 | Supplementary modules |
Reference day:
- Day of enumeration
Reference period:
- From 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020
- Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]
- Pen and Paper Interview [papi]
The General Census of Agriculture 2020 involved 720 enumerators divided into teams of 6, 120 team leaders, 2 HQ supervisors, 9 data collection supervisors, 34 assistant data collection supervisors, 9 facilitators, 9 fieldwork observers, and 26 IT application supervisors.
Data collection of the core module of the census started on 19 December 2019. The enumeration, which was about to finish at the end of March 2020 (70 percent of the holdings covered) was interrupted due to COVID-19. The country resumed the data collection for the remaining 30 percent of the holdings in the second week of September for a period of one month.
The census comprised of a core module and four supplementary modules were initially designed: a supplementary module on crops and livestock production, and three thematic modules on orchard and fruit trees, fisheries and aquaculture, and forestry and environment. The supplementary module on crops and livestock production was initiated but not completed, whereas the thematic modules could not be carried out.
The CAPI method was used for data collection of agricultural households. In some rural areas with difficult access to the network, the PAPI method was used instead. For modern and semi-modern agricultural holdings, collection supervisors conducted interviews using the PAPI method or submitted paper questionnaires to the persons in charge of the holdings.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
For the core module enumeration phase, a pilot census was conducted from 7 to 27 November 2018. The main objective of the exercise was to test all the tools and the organization of the census: questionnaires, instruction manuals, computer programs, technical materials, communication strategy, and so on. Recommendations were formulated for the next phase. A second exercise was conducted between 5 and 10 August 2019 to test IT applications and the assessment of the quality of the data collected.
Data Access
For additional information on data access and use, please contact the General Directorate of Statistics.
Website: https://instatgabon.org/
Email: [email protected]
Contacts
| Name | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| General Directorate of Statistics (Direction Générale de la Statistique) | [email protected] | https://instatgabon.org/ |
Metadata production
DDI_GAB_2020_RGA_v01_M_v01_A_ESS_FAO
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Directorate of Statistics (Direction Générale de la Statistique) | Metadata producer | ||
| Statistics Division | ESS | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | Metadata adapted for FAM |