At the Namibia Statistics Agency we are all about the collection, production and dissemination of statistics. Most of you will remember that last year the Namibia Statistics Agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, sought your assistance and cooperation while we conducted our Agricultural Census. It had not taken place for the past 20 years and not in many countries either. Hence, there was an information gap. We conducted the census in both communal and commercial sectors and the information gathered is enormous.
It is a good thing to inform you that the results of the communal sector census will be released early next month. Detailed data on crop production, crop storage, livestock production and fish farming will be made available. In addition to this, the census was large in its scope and coverage making it possible to disaggregate data up to regional level.
The information that will be availed is detailed and includes land use, access to extension services, equipment and infrastructure, access to credit facilities, farm management, aquaculture or fish farming, forestry, food security, other economic activities, labour inputs, crop production and livestock.
In terms of land use, we shall share with the nation what is the type of holding that exists on that land, the means of acquisition of parcels and plots, the holding characteristics as well as information on production and area of major crops.
With regard to extension services, the survey wanted to find out what services are provided to farmers. These range from farm management, selection of crop, input use, livestock husbandry, plant protection and marketing – just to mention a few.
We also sought to find out about the condition of equipment and infrastructure. This included questions on the means of transport, storage facilities and type of equipment owned. Additional to this, the census aimed to establish access to credit facilities.
Literally, it means we wanted to find out the number of households who applied for agricultural loans, the purpose of the loans received, source and period of the loan as well as the type of collateral.
On farm management we were collecting information on the use of fertilisers, the type of seed, pesticides and irrigation system used.
There has been an interest in aquaculture and fish farming in the country and the census will provide more light on fish farming, the fish farming system used, source of fish stock, partial fish harvest by season, the period in which aquaculture had been practised and the number of workers in aquaculture.
Food security is one of the most important indicators that will emanate from the Agriculture Census results. Under scrutiny will be the presence of food shortage, information on number of meals taken per day, months in which food shortage occurred and the reasons for food shortage. It will also give an overview on the immediate response to alleviate food shortages. We were also interested in economic activities other than agriculture that were taking place on agricultural holdings.
In terms of employment, the census results also provide details on agricultural household members by status of employment.
Lastly, there can be no agriculture without crop production and livestock. We hence also sought to understand the crop production quantity produced and the use of those crops.
With regard to livestock, we were curious to find out the livestock ownership, cattle by type, small stock by type, livestock intake, poultry by type as well as livestock losses and feeding practices used. We are certain that this type of information will justify the initial purpose of conducting the Agricultural Census, as the information gathered will surely improve planning and serve as a base for decision making.
*Iipumbu Sakaria is the Deputy Director for Strategic Communications at the Namibia Statistics Agency.