Cairo, Egypt - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) have held a workshop on “World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020 (WCA 2020)”. It aims at providing technical support to the Egyptian Agriculture Economic Sector in order to prepare the agricultural census, which will be carried out in Egypt by October 2019 for two years. Mr. Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt, Dr. Mohamed AbdelNabi, Head of the Economic Affairs sector in MALR and Mr. Jairo Castano, Senior Statistician and head of Agricultural Censuses and Surveys Department in FAO have participated in the workshop. Moreover, Representatives from FAO and Economic Affair sector attended the workshop.

The two-day workshop focused on identifying the technical and financial requirements to provide the needed support for the Economic Affairs Sector of MALR to prepare the upcoming agricultural census. It also focused on how to design the data collection form according to FAO new methodology, which is being applied in different countries all around the world. Finally, the workshop aims at identifying an inclusive workplan that indicates all required items to carry out an agricultural census in line with the World programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA).

“The census of agriculture is one of the key pillars of a national statistical system, it is often the only means of producing statistical information on the structure and other relevant aspects of the agriculture sector. Moreover, it is the only data collection instrument that produces statistical information on farms at the lowest geographical level and therefore it is an essential source of information for governments and decision-makers in member countries,” said Hussein Gadain, FAO representative in Egypt in his speech.

“The World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020 (WCA 2020) is the tenth decennial programme, and is expected to provide the basis for implementation of agricultural censuses in FAO member countries between 2016 and 2025. The use of these guidelines ensures that the census results are harmonized and internationally comparable, and allows Egypt to benchmark their performance against other member countries. They also provide the foundation for countries to develop an integrated census and survey programme, to use innovative and cost-effective methodologies, and ultimately to make better informed strategic decisions,” Gadain continued to add.

“The agricultural census in previous periods was based on methodologies applied since 2010. Given the development in the agricultural census methodologies, we sought FAO international expertise to provide an update on the newly applied methodologies in the agricultural census domain and the new agricultural census applications which can be used in preparing the census that will start in October 2018 until October 2021,” said Dr. Mohamed Abdelnabi, Head of the Economic Affairs sector in MALR.

In The World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020, close linkages have been established with the “Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics”, in terms of contribution to the minimum set of core data and the establishment of master sampling frames. The increased importance of integrating agricultural statistics in national statistical systems is also underlined. Finally, this harmonized approach will ultimately lead to improved understanding of the agricultural sector in the future.