Comptroller’s Office announces the VIII National Agricultural Census of Panama

Faced with the great challenge of updating the information on the agricultural and productive sector of Panama, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), of the Comptroller General of the Republic, presents the new strategies and the roadmap for the VIII Census National Agricultural Conference, which will take place in August 2024, under the slogan “Your information, the seed that makes Panama grow.”
“This statistical operation will have the purpose of evaluating the situation of the agricultural sector, in order to obtain a renewed directory, which allows us to know who, where and what is produced in Panama; in addition, to comply with international standards aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The information obtained will be essential to formulate plans, programs and instruments for decision-making in matters of agrarian policy”, said the general comptroller, Gerardo Solís.
This activity, which is based on Law 10 of January 22, 2009, begins in its pre-census stage this year, which includes various processes, from the preparation of the questionnaire, technical documents, organization of data collection and with In order to satisfy the preparation requirements, INEC will carry out the Experimental Census of Agriculture (CEA), which will be carried out this year in September 2023.
It should be noted that, for the field operation, the “Law Census” will be implemented, where face-to-face visits will be made to agricultural holdings (farms, land globes or plots), and where agricultural producers, suitable informants or site administrator.
The director of the INEC, Samuel Moreno, pointed out that the census will be carried out in a hybrid way through the use of the Mobile Capture Devices (DMC) used in the National Censuses, and the paper questionnaires, contemplated for areas of difficult access.
For the census form, which consists of 16 chapters and more than 200 questions, new topics related to the producer’s classification, diseases and pests were included; social security and risks in agricultural activity, and artisanal fishing.
“We will use data obtained from people who in the National Censuses: XII of Population and VIII of Housing, declared to develop some type of agricultural activity, also the database will be strengthened after approaching government entities, cooperatives, community organizations, companies and agricultural unions,” said Moreno.