Transcript Is there a trend from surveys to statistics partly or even purely based

1
In many developed countries administrative sources have developed into a
standard source in compiling social and economic statistics.
Business and agricultural registers are growing in importance. For
agricultural and environmental statistics also remote sensing and GIS are
becoming an often used data collection methodology.
What is the future for agricultural statistics with
respect to data collection methods and how will it
be organized? Is there a trend from surveys to
statistics partly or even purely based on these new
information technologies?
2
Agricultural statistics should not be looked on themselves but be studied in the
context of rural development; be placed in a context with the environment,
economy etc.
To maintain agricultural statistics as part of mainstream statistics it is needed
to link these with environmental statistics: agricultural - environmental
indicators, rural development, etc.
To what extent is this linking with other fields of
statistics a real challenge and to what extend just a
dream?
3
For the developing countries the agricultural statistics are an essential and
basic part of their statistical system. The ad hoc approach focused on only
one domain of statistics did prove not to be the most successful approach
for the development of sustainable statistical systems in these countries.
Would a sector wide approach (SWAP) for agricultural
statistics really be a better way to go ahead than the
ad hoc focused support to specific surveys or
studies?
4
Globalization is recognized as an important challenge for economic and social
statistics. Also in agriculture the globalization trend is visible in countries
specializing in certain crop production and increasing trade flows of
agricultural products (and also for example bio fuels) between regions and
countries.
Is this trend also recognizable in agricultural statistics,
and if so, how do agricultural statistics have to
develop to include these trends of globalization?
5
Compared to other statistics (economic, social) agricultural statistics are
relatively far from the direct reach of statisticians at the national statistical
offices. As a result the communication and coordination on the international
level of agricultural statistics is rather restricted.
Could an intensified interest via - for example - one or
more specific groups (eg city groups) lead to a
better recognition of the weak and strong areas and
to coordinated actions to get more information on
specific agricultural statistics?
6
Climate change is currently a very important issue. Climate change is
expected to have a large impact on society. The impact of climate change
on agriculture production etc is still hardly known.
How can agricultural statistics prepare themselves on
the enlarged interest and especially the expected
increased need for longitudinal data and data on
short term effects of this trend for areas/regions and
products?
7
Reduced human resources are challenges for the statistical institutes,
competing with new developments in statistics.
Which are the domains of agricultural statistics where
we have to concentrate on, giving these the highest
priority during the next five years?