DIPOLOG CITY,SEPT. 26(PIA)---In preparation for the upcoming
2012 Census on Agriculture and Fisheries(CAF), the National Statistics Office
(NSO) in Zamboanga del Norte recently conducted a Provincial Consultative Forum
here.
The
activity was attended by representatives from various agencies of the
government, local government units, non-government organizations and people’s
organizations.
In
her message to the participants, read by Zamboanga del Norte Provincial
Statistics Officer, Ma. Lila Daan, NSO-9 OIC Regional Director Dr. Adelaida
Cuarte cited the importance of the forum for the participants as stakeholders
and partners of NSO as they serve as its link to the people in the community.
“Trough
this forum, NSO will be able to relay the importance of the CAF to gather more
views, ideas, and issues and concerns from you relative to agriculture and
fishing activities and the required facilities and services that the people need
in your respective areas and communities,” Cuarte said.
The
forum was conducted to generate additional inputs from the participants which
could be possibly incorporated in the drafted sets of questions that would be
asked during the survey.
The
2012 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries is a large-scale government
undertaking that geared towards the collection and compilation of basic
information in the agriculture and fishery sector in the country.
Cuarte
said, under Executive Order No. 121(Reorganizing and Strengthening the
Philippine Statistical System (PSS) and for Other Purposes) and Commonwealth Act No. 591, NSO is
designated as primary agency tasked to undertake the Census of Agriculture and
Fisheries. Furthermore, EO No. 352(Designation of Statistical Activities that
will Generate Critical Data for Decision-making of the Government and the
Private Sector) provides for the conduct of CAF every ten (10) years.
The
data that will be gathered during the survey will be used by our policy makers
and planners in formulating plans and programs to the socio-economic
development of our country. It will also provide agricultural, aqua-cultural
and fishery facilities and services in the barangay.
Meanwhile,
the business and industry will use the data gathered in the CAF in making
projections on production and planning the quantity and types of commodities to
be produced.
Unlike
the previous census, the 2012 CAF will use the census modular approach
recommended by the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) 2010,
that is, with a core census module and census supplementary modules on selected
themes.
Daan
said enumerators, after an extensive orientation and training on the upcoming
census, will be visiting all households from February to
March 2013. Establishments in agriculture and fisheries will likewise be
visited by the census supervisors during the same period. The reference period
for the 2012 CAF is from January to December 2012.
The
2012 CAF is the 6th in a series of decennial agriculture census and
the 5th on the census of fisheries. (JPA/ATR/PIA9-Zambo Norte)