By IANS
New Delhi : With the government laying stress on agriculture, a National Workshop on Agricultural Statistics Monday suggested several initiatives including use of new technological tools for improving farm statistics.
The two-day workshop, which concluded Monday, felt precise and timely estimates of crop yield area, production and other farm data will help in taking correct policy decisions and monitoring progress of various programmes and schemes.
The workshop said statistical legislation on the lines of population census and industrial statistics was necessary to conduct and complete the agriculture census in time, according to a ministry of agriculture statement.
It felt that statutory powers are needed for the Agricultural Census Commissioner of India and State Agricultural Census Commissioners.
The emphasis at the workshop was on use of new technological tools in view of depleting staff strength in the field.
State representatives said they were closely monitoring area and yield estimates and preparing production estimates based on results of Crop Cutting Experiments.
The workshop participants felt that efforts should be made for online transfer of district level data on production, prices and other details to the states and from the state headquarters to the centre.
As no proper database is available on horticultural crops and since a new thrust is being given to this sector, it was decided that a system would be put in place to capture horticulture data exhaustively.