We invite all our farmers to be ACTIVE and Not to Stay Outside

Today marks the start of the General Agricultural Census. Our farmers will be able to produce their data on the Internet via the system e.statistika gyventojams within three weeks (until 9 September). From 10 September, interviewers will start visiting or interviewing on phone those farmers who failed to do this in due time online. From 12 October, during the one-month period, agricultural companies and enterprises will be able to provide their statistical data online via the system e.statistika.

Agricultural census is a large-scale statistical survey, encompassing about 160 thousand farmers, family farms, agricultural companies and enterprises. Collection and processing of the data obtained will provide a complete and thorough picture of agriculture in Lithuania: the number of farms, people employed therein, utilised agricultural area, livestock, how they are kept, plant crops, methods of land cultivating, fertilisation.

“These statistical data, in particular, serve as the basis for the future of our farms. This year agricultural surveys are conducted by all EU countries. The data obtained will reflect the real situation of agriculture in the entire European Union. Furthermore, they will be taken into account and enhance progressive framing and planning of a common agricultural policy. Subsidies, allowances, future agricultural support will depend on the entire information collected”, – Aušra Jablonskienė, Head of the Agricultural and Environmental Statistics Division, Statistics Lithuania, underlines the importance of the census.

In preparing for the aforementioned census we therefore put particular emphasis on a more user-friendly data reporting and already available data using. Our farmers and agricultural entities will be able to produce data online. Both electronic forms and questionnaires to be filled in by the interviewers will be supplemented by administrative data already available. Farmers will be able to adjust, amend or leave them as they are. Data, fully corresponding to the census methodology, will not be required. “In the previous census, administrative data were used for checking the information collected. This time, we do not intend to bother our respondents and will not ask for the data which have already been produced by state authorities. Part of the farmers will fill in a shortened questionnaire – only basic data about their farm will be required. Exclusively the farms selected will have to provide data about employees in their farm, profitable agricultural activities, keeping animals for farming purposes, fertilisation, manure and slurry production (extraction) on the holding. Such actions are taken striving to reduce the administrative burden for farmers” – these are Aušra Jablonskienė’s words.

Security of the data collected in the course of the census is guaranteed by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Official Statistics. They will be used solely for statistical purposes. Only aggregated data will be published. Census has no connection with taxes, social insurance and other administrative measures.

This is the fourth general agricultural census in Lithuania’s history. The first overall Agricultural Census in Lithuania was conducted in 1930. During the Soviet period, data on agricultural crop area, gardens and berry fields, the number of livestock and poultry, tractors and other agricultural machines and buildings were provided by kolkhozes and sovkhozes, while data on agricultural parcels of inhabitants were calculated using a sampling method or administrative documents (agricultural record books of executive committees of districts). The second Agricultural Census in Independent Lithuania was conducted in 2003, and the last Agricultural Census was carried out in 2010.

More information on the issue is available on the Official Statistics Portal at Visuotiniai surašymai.
 

Agricultural Census 2020 is partially funded by the European Union.

Contact:
Agricultural Census 2020 e.mail: zu.surasymas@stat.gov.lt
Agricultural and Environmental Statistics Division
Tel. (+370 5) 236 4982/4960/4992