Govt to conduct agricultural census in April
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Naim-Ul-Karim
The government has decided to conduct the 4th countrywide agricultural census from next month aiming to set the right kind of strategies to combat deficiencies in food grain production, officials said.
They said the 4th agricultural census was scheduled to be held in December 2007 in line with the Departmental Project Proforma (DPP).
The first sample based agricultural census was conducted in 1977 while the second one was held in two phases in 1983-1984 followed by the third in 1997.
"We could not complete the preparatory works for conducting the census on time due to two consecutive foods followed by hurricane SIDR in November last," a senior official the Ministry of Planning said.
He said the steering committee of the Bangladesh Agricultural Census -2007 in its second meeting on March 12 with Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, secretary of the Planning Division in the chair, decided to launch the countrywide census in May this year in two phases.
In the first phase the official said the census will be carried out in Chittagong, Khulna and Dhaka divisions while the second phase will cover Barisal, Sylhet and Rajshahi divisions.
They said shortage of field level manpower of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) might hamper the census works, as it will be carried out in urban and rural areas simultaneously.
"A number of field level posts of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics have long remained vacant," a senior official said.
When asked, he said: "We will collect, compile, analyse, and publish the statistics of all the agri-sectors to meet the needs of development planning, research, policy and decision making."
Apart from this, the official said the census will also include national level survey in some fields such as labour force, demographic situation, agriculture, and household income and expenditure.
"We will require at least one year to prepare a comprehensive report on the census," he said.
Sources said there is no real information on the country's food grain shortfall that has been estimated at around 4.0 million tonnes in the ongoing 2007-08 fiscal.
"More over we cannot say firmly about the contribution of two major crops-- aman and boro-- in our food basket having no current information in this connection," a senior official of the BBS said
Referring to the meeting held on March 12, he said the agricultural census in the country should be held once every five years as the population in Bangladesh is higher than any other country of this size.
The government has decided to conduct the 4th countrywide agricultural census from next month aiming to set the right kind of strategies to combat deficiencies in food grain production, officials said.
They said the 4th agricultural census was scheduled to be held in December 2007 in line with the Departmental Project Proforma (DPP).
The first sample based agricultural census was conducted in 1977 while the second one was held in two phases in 1983-1984 followed by the third in 1997.
"We could not complete the preparatory works for conducting the census on time due to two consecutive foods followed by hurricane SIDR in November last," a senior official the Ministry of Planning said.
He said the steering committee of the Bangladesh Agricultural Census -2007 in its second meeting on March 12 with Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, secretary of the Planning Division in the chair, decided to launch the countrywide census in May this year in two phases.
In the first phase the official said the census will be carried out in Chittagong, Khulna and Dhaka divisions while the second phase will cover Barisal, Sylhet and Rajshahi divisions.
They said shortage of field level manpower of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) might hamper the census works, as it will be carried out in urban and rural areas simultaneously.
"A number of field level posts of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics have long remained vacant," a senior official said.
When asked, he said: "We will collect, compile, analyse, and publish the statistics of all the agri-sectors to meet the needs of development planning, research, policy and decision making."
Apart from this, the official said the census will also include national level survey in some fields such as labour force, demographic situation, agriculture, and household income and expenditure.
"We will require at least one year to prepare a comprehensive report on the census," he said.
Sources said there is no real information on the country's food grain shortfall that has been estimated at around 4.0 million tonnes in the ongoing 2007-08 fiscal.
"More over we cannot say firmly about the contribution of two major crops-- aman and boro-- in our food basket having no current information in this connection," a senior official of the BBS said
Referring to the meeting held on March 12, he said the agricultural census in the country should be held once every five years as the population in Bangladesh is higher than any other country of this size.