Agricultural census: years, procedure. Ministry of Agriculture

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In 2016, Russia will conduct a large-scale agricultural census - an event through which the competent authorities will collect data on the activities of various economic entities in the agricultural sector. It is noteworthy that the agricultural census is not a new phenomenon in the history of the Russian Federation. Similar events were held in the days of Tsarist Russia. Data collection in the form of an agricultural census was especially active in the Soviet Union. The best experience of the agrarians of the USSR can also be used in solving modern problems of collecting data reflecting the state of affairs in the agricultural sphere. What is the specificity of Russian agricultural censuses? What are the features of the relevant event to be held in 2016?

The essence of agricultural lists and the history of their implementation in Russia

Agricultural census is an event that is a collection carried out according to special regulations, as well as registration in the prescribed manner of information aboutstate of affairs in national agriculture. This event is held by government agencies in order to obtain information on how the adopted programs for the development of the agricultural sector are being implemented, what problems there are, and what are the results of farmers' activities in certain periods.

Prototypes of agricultural censuses have been known since ancient Russia. There is evidence that in the written sources of the 9th century there were records about the owners of land plots, about the number of livestock that they had at their disposal. Several such censuses are known to have taken place in the 13th century. Subsequently, information about the activities of Russian landowners was collected in the 16th and 17th centuries through scribe books. At the end of the 17th century, census books began to be used for such purposes.

The first large-scale agricultural census in the modern sense was conducted in the European part of the Russian Empire in 1877-1878. This activity involved the collection of data with separate accounting of sown areas for various types of crops.

The first agricultural census was held in 1916 as an official event. Let's study its features.

1916 Agricultural Census

The 1916 Agricultural Census was established to:

• gathering data necessary to organize the food supply of the state in 1917-1918 in war;
• obtaining statistical information necessary to improve the law that governs agriculture.

BDocumentary forms of the 1916 census were supposed to reflect information about landowners, livestock, and crop areas. They also included data on stocks, the rate of consumption of various types of food.

Data from the 1916 agricultural census were already published during the Soviet period. They included information on 76 provinces with a population of about 104.4 million people, on the territory of which about 19.2 million farms operated.

The agricultural census, which was conducted in 1916, showed that about 64.3% of the crops were occupied by food crops, about 31.6% - fodder. About 3.5% of the territory was occupied by oilseeds, 0.6% - by others. Approximately 52% of the area under crops fell on wheat, rye, about 29% - on oats, barley. The census showed that Russian farmers owned 55.8 million heads of cattle, of which 44% were cows.

In 1917-1920, a number of other agricultural censuses were conducted. Let's study the information about them.

Agricultural census 1917-1920

The 1917 agricultural census was the second large-scale event that collected data on the state of affairs in the agrarian sector of the state. It was carried out mainly to organize the supply of food to the country's armed forces.

As part of this census, data were collected on all peasant farms, artels and other forms of business in the agricultural sector. However, only thosefarms that had field crops.

In 1919, Russia conducted a census in the agricultural sector within a sample of 10%. It was carried out in order to identify changes in the activities of peasant farms following the abolition of the institution of private land ownership by the Soviet government, as well as the adoption of a law in accordance with which the lands were nationalized.

The All-Russian agricultural census of 1920 was more extensive. It was carried out in order to obtain information from the authorities about changes in the field of agriculture as a result of reforms after the October Revolution. The results of this event showed that about 14.2 million farms operate in the new Soviet state. The state bodies responsible for conducting the 1920 agricultural census collected data on the number and composition of the labor force in the country's agrarian sector, the size of sown areas, livestock, and poultry.

Agricultural census in the USSR

Subsequently, after the creation of the USSR, a large number of sample censuses were conducted in the agricultural sector. So, they could take into account indicators for 2-3, 5, 10% of farms operating in the state. It can be noted that in 1928 and 1929 a census was carried out both for state and collective farms, and in 1930 only for organizations of the second type. As part of the relevant censuses, data were collected on the composition of families that are engaged in agriculture, on the size of sown areas, on the number of livestock, on the inventory that citizens had at their disposal,cultivating the land and raising livestock.

In general, the agro-industrial sector of the USSR was actively investigated by the competent state authorities in the years before the Great Patriotic War, in the period that corresponded to it - in the form of urgent censuses. A large number of related events were also held in the 50-80s.

Let's now consider how agricultural censuses were conducted in post-Soviet Russia.

Agricultural censuses in post-Soviet Russia

In fact, the first large-scale all-Russian agricultural census after the collapse of the USSR was conducted in Russia in 2006. Its main goals were named:

• obtaining information by the competent authorities on the state of affairs and the structure of national agriculture, its potential and the availability of resources for its development;
• obtaining statistical data on the agricultural sector in municipalities;
• Improving the methods of statistical data recording in agriculture.

Data from the relevant agricultural census was intended to be used as a data source for follow-up activities of this type. The All-Russian Agricultural Census of 2006 was the first that made it possible to assess the state of affairs in the national agricultural sector of the Russian Federation, to assess the changes that have occurred after the reforms carried out by the state.

It can be noted that during this census, both innovative data collection technologies and those approaches that have been formed over the past years of such activities were applied. Dataagricultural census were subsequently published on the Rosstat website.

In accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 316, issued on 2013-10-04, the next agricultural census was planned in Russia - in 2016. Consider the basic information about her.

Agricultural Census 2016 event highlights

So, the second All-Russian Agricultural Census is being held in 2016 at the initiative of the Russian government. This activity is planned to be carried out in 2 stages. From July 1 to August 15, the census will be carried out in the most accessible territories of Russia, from September 15 to November 15 - in hard-to-reach regions of the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, responsible for conducting the 2016 census, should collect data on 167.6 thousand farms, 31.4 thousand agricultural organizations, 29.6 thousand business entities in the status of micro-enterprise, 55 thousand farmers in the status of individual entrepreneurs, about 20 million private households of citizens, as well as about 80 thousand non-profit associations of gardeners and summer residents.

Each of the relevant types of business entities can deal with special types of tasks that are typical only for enterprises of a certain size, which are located in a particular region of the Russian Federation. One of the tasks of the agricultural census is to identify such patterns and analyze them from the point of view of their applicability in order to improve the effectiveness of state policy in the field of agricultural development.

Let's now study the goals and objectives,to be decided by the participants of the event in question.

Goals and objectives of the 2016 agricultural census

The 2016 All-Russian Agricultural Census assumes that the competent authorities will solve tasks that are generally similar to those that were set as part of the corresponding event in 2006.

So, they have to:

• collect statistical data on the state of affairs and the structure of the agro-industrial sector of the Russian Federation, on the resources it has, as well as on its potential;
• to form detailed characteristics of the activities of economic entities in the agricultural sector - in order to work out a development strategy for this industry, develop tools for economic impact on it in order to stimulate development;
• obtaining data to characterize the level of food security of the state.

Let's study what key indicators are supposed to be recorded in the framework of the 2016 agricultural census.

Agricultural Census 2016: Key Indicators

The 2016 Census of Agriculture is an activity where knowledgeable professionals will collect data:

• about the amount of land owned by citizens and organizations, about their structure and methods of use;
• related to demographic indicators for various census sites;
• about agricultural employment;
• about the area under crops of various crops,classified by type;
• about the number of livestock and poultry - also in relation to their individual species;
• on the availability of various types of machinery, equipment and other infrastructure at the disposal of an economic entity.

Let's study in more detail what economic entities can be objects of the agricultural census in 2016.

Agricultural Census 2016: Objects

In accordance with the provisions of a separate federal law, individuals and organizations can be objects of the 2016 agricultural census:

• owning, leasing or otherwise using land that is used for agricultural production;
• owning farm animals.

Producers of agricultural products in accordance with the law are classified into the following categories of economic entities:

• legal entities;
• peasant farms;
• individual entrepreneurs;
• partial farms of citizens;
• gardening and dacha non-profit associations of agricultural producers.

The next important aspect of an agricultural census is preparation. Let's consider its features in relation to the 2016 agricultural census, in more detail.

Preparing for the 2016 agricultural census

The way in which this area of work of participants in the agricultural census in 2016 is carried out is usually determined at the level of a particular municipality, but in accordance with the norms of federal laws. Yes, most oftenin the territories of local subordination, special commissions for the conduct of the agricultural census are established. They usually include representatives of municipal authorities, Rosstat, experts in the field of agriculture, representatives of law enforcement and supervisory authorities.

It is noteworthy that preparations for the 2016 agricultural census in most cases have been carried out since 2015. So, by the time the relevant event was held, it was assumed that competent specialists would successfully solve such problems as:

• formation of a list of economic entities for which data should be collected;
• implementation of census zoning - the division of the municipality into separate territories and census tracts to increase the efficiency of the work of specialists responsible for data collection;
• involvement of registrars - in order to form an official list of objects of the agricultural census.

The procedure for conducting the agricultural census, reflected in the legislation, provides for the mandatory protection of personal data of participants in the relevant event. Let's study this nuance in more detail.

Agricultural Census 2016: protecting the privacy of participants

The fact that data on census participants are subject to protection is reflected in several sources of law at once. First, it is a federal law, according to which the agricultural census is organized. Secondly, this is a separate Federal Law on the protection of personal data.

According tothe rules of law in force in the legislation of the Russian Federation, the information that is included in the census registers should be considered as information that is not subject to unauthorized disclosure. The only way to use it is to transfer it to the appropriate information systems. Users of this information can only be the competent authorities and other entities to which this right is granted by law.

The processing of data contained in the agricultural census registers should be carried out under the condition that they are provided with the necessary protection - that is, using reliable modern encryption and data transmission technologies. Employees of the authorities participating in the agricultural census undertake, in accordance with the law, not to disclose the information contained in the census registers.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the results of the agricultural census - in the form in which the criterion of confidentiality of information about certain economic entities will be met, will subsequently be published - in print and on the Internet. This or that information, therefore, will be anonymized and will not contain links to specific agricultural enterprises.

CV

So, we have considered the essence of the concept of the agricultural census, the history of these events. Many types of agriculture are historically developed in Russia, and in order to build an effective policy to support and develop this area, the state regularly collects data on the state of affairs in the relevantindustry.

In 2016, the Russian Federation conducts the second agricultural census after the collapse of the USSR. In turn, during the Soviet period, these events were carried out very often: the experience of those times, the practice of collecting information on the agricultural sector are also involved in solving the current tasks that the Ministry of Agriculture and other interested state structures set for themselves.

In 2016, one of the largest agricultural censuses will be held. The competent authorities will collect data on all the main economic entities of the agricultural sector and classify them within a large number of different categories - so as to form an information base that can be used to objectively analyze the state of affairs in the agricultural sector in Russia. Subsequently, the agricultural census data will be used by the authorities in setting new priorities in the development policy of the agricultural sector and the sectors of the country's economy that depend on it.