7th Agricultural Census of Pakistan is planned to conduct in 2024

After the successful completion of 7th Population & Housing Census (1st Ever Digital Census), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has planned to conduct the 7th Agricultural Census

Islamabad: 7th Agricultural Census of Pakistan is planned to conduct in 2024 (Integrated Digital Count). The field operation will be conducted in September-October 2024.
• Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has integrated the Agricultural, Livestock, and Agricultural Machinery Censuses into one activity of 7th Agricultural Census during, 2024 as per international best practices under United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) guidelines
• Effective and Efficient management of human and financial resources in 7th Agricultural Census for provision of credible statistics
• PBS has established 157 Census Support Centers for seamless execution and management of field operations.
• Provincial Stakeholders Viz. Board of Revenue, Agricultural (Extension), Livestock, Punjab Bureau of Statistics, Crop Reporting Services will support for Field Operation, Supervision and Monitoring.
• Budget of Rupees 650 Million will be consumed for the 7th Agricultural Census
After the successful completion of 7th Population & Housing Census (1st Ever Digital Census), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has planned to conduct the 7th Agricultural Census throughout the country as integrated digital count of agriculture, livestock and machinery as per best international practices and guidelines of the UNFAO, an overdue activity. For broader involvement and wider acceptability, PBS initiated engagements with Partner Organizations and Provincial Stakeholders Viz.

Board of Revenue, Agricultural (Extension), Livestock, Provincial Bureau of Statistics, Crop Reporting Services etc. The participation of stakeholders helped in diversified perspectives, identifying needs, and addressing the shortcoming and potential issues for provision of credible statistics as per requirements and avoiding any inconvenience during field operation of the Agricultural Census.
The process started with the meeting of all provincial focal persons (SMBRs) at PBS HQ Islamabad on 20th December 2023.

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After this series of Provincial meetings started, first provincial meeting held at Provincial Census Coordination Center (P3C), Sindh, PBS, Karachi, the second provincial meeting is convened on 15th February, 2024 at P3C, PBS, Provincial Office, Punjab, Lahore under the chair of Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, Chief Census Commissioner. Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Member (SS/RM), senior officers from PBS HQ Islamabad, Lahore and senior officers from Provincial departments also attended the meeting.
The Chief Census Commissioner highlighted the Pakistan is an agricultural country and agriculture has 23% shares in the GDP out of which 64% of livestock shares in agriculture and is providing employment to the 37% of labor force, therefore, latest data on agricultural sector is required for evidence based policy planning and Agricultural Census 2024 will be huge source in this regard.

He emphasized on the participation and cooperation of provincial stakeholders, for successful completion of the field operation for the 7th Agricultural Census.
Mr. Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Member (Support Services/IT), apprised in detail regarding the methodology, field operation plan, Media Strategy, and Budget requirements. He informed that PBS using meticulous sampling design which is also vetted by FAO selected 11054 Mouzas/Blocks allover the country, out of which 4501 mouzas/ blocks pertains to Punjab.

He also presented the schedule for field operation during September –October, 2024. It will be the First Integrated Digital exercise in the field of agriculture for data collection in Pakistan. The Digital aspects like Tablet based data collection, use of digitized maps of Mouzas/Blocks, SMS Gateway, Call Center, were elaborated in detail .

It was informed that for smooth and efficient field operations, Various Working Groups for Complaint Management and provision of information have been constituted. Further 157 Census Support Ccenters(CSCs) have been established equipped with digital technology at each Deputy Commissioner’s Office.

The divisional and district census coordinators have already been deployed by PBS at each CSC for technical guidance, facilitation and operational management. Similarly 157 Training Venues having facilities of multimedia, internet, sound system, laptops, printers have been shortlisted .

Training will be imparted using ICT materials with interactive videos/audios by the expert trainers to ensure standardization of concepts.
The provincial stakholders appreciated the efforts and were of view that by completion of this national task, PBS will be able to provide timely accurate and relevant data for Informed policy planning and decision making.