Daily Times

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has devised a plan to conduct the 7th Agricultural Census in 2024, across the country to undertake an integrated digital count of agriculture, livestock and machinery as per international best practices under United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) guidelines.

According to the news release, effective and efficient management of human and financial resources is crucial in the 7th Agricultural Census to ensure the provision of credible statistics. The census consumed around Rs 650 million while the field operation will be conducted in September-October this year.

For broader involvement and wider acceptability, PBS initiated engagements with partner organizations and provincial stakeholders namely the Board of Revenue, Agricultural (Extension), Livestock, Provincial Bureau of Statistics, Crop Reporting Services etc. The participation of stakeholders helped in diversified perspectives, identifying needs, and addressing the shortcomings and potential issues for the provision of credible statistics as per requirements and avoiding any inconvenience during field operation of the Agricultural Census.

The process started with the meeting of all provincial focal persons (SMBRs) at PBS HQ Islamabad on 20th December 2023.

After this series of Provincial meetings started, the first provincial meeting held at Provincial Census Coordination Center (P3C), Sindh, and the second meeting was held at the Provincial Office, Punjab, and Lahore under the chair of Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, Chief Census Commissioner.

Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Member (SS/RM), senior officers from PBS and senior officers from Provincial departments also attended the meeting.

The Chief Census Commissioner highlighted that Pakistan is an agricultural country and agriculture has a 23% share in the GDP out of which 64% of livestock shares in agriculture and provides employment to 37% of the labor force.

Therefore, the latest data on the agricultural sector is required for evidence-based policy planning and the Agricultural Census 2024 will be a huge source in this regard. He emphasized on the participation and cooperation of provincial stakeholders, for the successful completion of the field operation for the 7th Agricultural Census.

Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Member (Support Services/IT), apprised in detail regarding the methodology, field operation plan, Media Strategy, and Budget requirements. He informed that PBS using meticulous sampling design which is also vetted by FAO selected 11054 Mouzas/Blocks all over the country, out of which 4501 mouzas/ blocks pertain to Punjab. It will be the First Integrated Digital exercise in the field of agriculture for data collection in Pakistan. The Digital aspects like Tablet-based data collection, use of digitized maps of Mouzas/Blocks, SMS Gateway, Call Center, were elaborated in detail. It was informed that for smooth and efficient field operations, various working groups for complaint management and provision of information have been constituted.

It was informed that 157 Census Support Centers (CSCs) have been established equipped with digital technology at each Deputy Commissioner’s Office. The divisional and district census coordinators have already been deployed by PBS at each CSC for technical guidance, facilitation and operational management.

Similarly, 157 training venues having facilities for multimedia, internet, sound systems, laptops and printers have been shortlisted. Training will be imparted using ICT materials with interactive videos/audios by the expert trainers to ensure standardization of concepts. The provincial stakeholders appreciated the efforts and were of the view that by completion of this national task, PBS would be able to provide timely accurate and relevant data for informed policy planning and decision making.