Question : AGRICULTURAL DATA

(a) whether the Government prepares various financial and physical policies based on data of production of various crops and agricultural commodities in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government in consultation with the States is contemplating to take steps to obtain more accurate data in this regard;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the follow-up action taken by the Government in this regard; and

(e) the present method of obtaining such data prevalent in the country and the modifications, if any, being contemplated by the Government?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE (SHRI MOHANBHAI KUNDARIA)

(a) & (b): Yes, Madam. The Govt. has an established system of collecting agriculture and horticulture data from district level and State level. Also Government of India publishes agricultural statistics on yearly basis. Based on this, Government of India formulates financial and physical policies from time to time for increasing agricultural production and productivity.

(c) to (e): At present, the responsibility for furnishing data on area, production and yield of different crops lies with State Agricultural Statistics Authorities (SASAs) in various States/UTs. However, Government of India provides financial support to State/UT Governments under the Sub-scheme Improvement of Agricultural Statistics (IAS) which has three components viz. Timely Reporting Scheme (TRS), Establishment of an Agency for Reporting of Agricultural Statistics (EARAS) and Improvement of Crops Statistics (ICS).

The land record states and non-land record States are respectively provided support under TRS and EARAS for area enumeration and assessment of yield by conducting Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) in a sample of 20% villages selected in such a manner that over a period of 5 years all the villages of a State/UT are covered. The area enumeration and CCEs are generally done by the field functionaries of State Revenue Departments. Based upon crop-wise area and average yield as per CCEs, district-level estimates of different crops are prepared which are, in turn, used for preparation of State-level estimates of area, production and yield. Under the ICS Scheme, States/UTs are provided support for sample check of area enumeration and CCEs to ensure quality of primary data collected by the revenue authorities.

The estimates prepared on the basis of data received from State Governments are validated by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture before preparation of All India level estimates of area, production and yield of different crops.

Recently, an Expert Committee constituted under the chairmanship of Prof. A. Vaidyanathan observed that due to heavy load of revenue related work, the field functionaries are unable to give proper attention to agricultural statistics which leads to deterioration in its quality. In this context, the Committee recommended setting up of a National Crop Statistics Centre (NCSC) in the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare State/National level estimates based upon the area data collected from a small sample of about 15000 villages and yield assessment on the basis of around 90000 CCEs all over the country, directly through the field enumerators funded by Central Government. The methodology suggested by Expert Committee is being implemented on pilot basis to assess its suitability for implementation in the whole country for preparation of State/National level estimates of area, production and yield of different agricultural crops.