Purpose

• The meeting aimed to disseminate among member countries of FAO from Latin America the new World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2010 which will cover the period 2006-2015. It was organized with the objective of helping the participants gain a deeper understanding of the new strategy of adopting a modular approach to data collection being advocated by FAO through this Programme.

• Plans of the countries for implementing the 2010 round of agricultural census and surveys were also reviewed.

• The use of new technologies in census and surveys taking and processing were presented and discussed.

Participants

The participants of the meeting were the professional statisticians and census leaders who are likely to play a role in planning and execution of agricultural census in their respective countries during the decade to which the Programme pertains (2006-2015). In some cases, participants have already headed the execution of the agricultural census under this round. A total of 34 participants from 17 countries, ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) and FAO attended the meeting. The countries represented were: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.