A total number of Three hundred and fifty (350) enumerators have commenced data gathering of households engaged in agriculture in the Upper East Region under the Ghana census of agriculture.
The Agric census aims at collecting data from households engaged in agricultural activities for developing agriculture in rural areas of the country.
Speaking to Citi News in Bolgatanga after the inauguration of a four-member regional management team, Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr. Francis Ennor, said the project was ready for the take-off.
“The data collection is taking off with about three hundred and fifty enumerators. We want to know the number of people engaged in agriculture, the type of farming, how many are into livestock, crop production, aquaculture and forestry.
The enumerators will also collect information on persons engaged in agro-processing and marketing of agricultural produce and products.
“This exercise will enable us to get accurate data to plan and roll out policies in the agricultural sector” he added.
He said information on some community agricultural facilities and infrastructure would also be collected.
The data collection exercise will span for three months.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Bukari, was confident that the exercise would enable the government to roll out policies to make agriculture more attractive in rural areas.
He added that the outcome of the data collection, when finally implemented, would contribute significantly towards food security.
The census would be implemented in four phases in line with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) ‘Modular Approach’.
Phase I started with the development of census documents and instruments which spanned the period 2016-2017.
Phase II is the ongoing data collection which will span from May to July 2018, whiles Phase III will be devoted to the implementation of the comprehensive modules on sample basis on crops and livestock which would span from October 2018 to June 2019.
The final phase will involve the preparation and dissemination of technical reports of all modules from July to December 2019.
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By: Frederick Awuni/citinewsroom.com/Ghana