By Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK – The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has successfully completed the first phase of the agricultural census with about 10 250 households interviewed and 3 109 plots demarcated for the crop-cutting experiment.
The Statistician-General Dr John Steytler said the agricultural census currently underway is a nationwide undertaking that covers the communal and commercial sectors.
The communal sector field work ran from February 17 this year and will be completed on June 30, while the commercial sector survey will be conducted from August to October.
The number of agricultural households interviewed is about 10 250 whilst around 3109 plots were demarcated for the crop-cutting experiment.
To achieve this, NSA employed a staff complement of 96 supervisors and 384 enumerators, bringing the total hired personnel to about 480.
Moreover, he said so far it has been a massive exercise that involved around 110 vehicles which drove over one million kilometres.
According to him, the second phase which collects the yield estimation information is under way and is expected to run until end of June.
During this period, he said, the NSA would continue to work with 96 supervisors and a reduced staff of 192 enumerators.
Throughout the second phase, teams are expected to visit farms that have demarcated sub plots and harvest the crops which will then be used to calculate the yield.
“We have already urged farmers not to touch the sub plots until the officials of the NSA return for crop-cutting,” he said.
The second phase will not be conducted in the //Karas, Erongo, Hardap and Khomas regions as they do not have significant amounts of crops in their areas.
The commercial sector survey is set to start on August 4 and will be conducted through a mail questionnaire. Farmers are expected to complete the questionnaire in less than one month and send it back to the NSA for processing.
anakale@newera.com.na