First session of the workshop. Photo: ©FAO/Vidhu Kayastha

Dhulikhel-4-Day Workshop for the development of AGRISQuestionnaires jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development the Government of Nepal (MoALD), Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and FAO was kicked off on 5 March 2019 in Dhulikhel.

The AGRISurvey Programme supports countries to strengthen their national system of agricultural surveys with the aim of enhancing evidence-based policy making in the agricultural sector. The programme complements the efforts and resources of partner countries for the implementation of their Strategic Plans on Agricultural Statistics supporting the collection and dissemination of survey data. The AGRISurvey Programme approach is based on a system of farm surveys that is synchronized with the Agricultural Census and operates over a ten-year cycle to provide a regular flow of quality data. It envisages a core production questionnaire for yearly data collection and rotating questionnaires, administered less frequently, which consider the social, economic, and environmental characteristics of the agricultural holdings.

FAO, CBS and MoALD are joining forces in putting into practice the AGRISurvey approach starting with the 2019 Core Agricultural Survey and the module on Production Methods and the Environment.

The objective of the workshop is to develop the agricultural survey for Nepal through adapting the standard AGRIS methodology.  Mr. Hem Raj Regmi, Deputy Director-General of CBS, Mr. Badri Bahadur Karki, Dirctor at  CBS and Mr. Mahesh Subedi, Director at CBS, Mr. Ram Krishna Regmi, Senior Statistician at MoALD and Ms. Galimira Markova, Expert from the AGRIS team at FAO HQ and Mr. Niranjan Dangol of FAO Nepal are facilitating the workshop attended by 20 participants representing MoALD, CBS. . Nepal is set to launch AGRISurvey implementation with a plan of action and specific areas of work (e.g. support in improving current agricultural survey methodologies; developing and adapting questionnaires in line with AGRIS methodology; support for developing a Master Sampling Frame, open data, etc.).

The AGRISurvey implementation will be overseen by a specialized Steering Committee and will ensure national agricultural data collection over the coming 10 years in order to inform policy design and implementation, improve market efficiency and support research.