2012 NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SURVEY
Susana Pérez Cadena
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI),
Dirección General Adjunta de Censos
Económicos y Agropecuarios.
Boulevard José María Chávez # 1913,
Aguascalientes, Ags., México
[email protected]
Abstract
In Mexico, by law, the censuses are conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and
Geography. The population, economic and agricultural censuses are periodically carried
out. The population and economic censuses are performed every 5 years and the
agricultural census every 10, since the year 1930 when the first was done. However, after
the 1991 Agricultural Census, the periodicity was lost due to budgetary issues; therefore it
was not until 2007 that the next one was carried out.
To date it is unknown when the next Agricultural Census will be performed, and what´s
more, INEGI does not have a continuous survey system for the agricultural sector that
meets the great demand of information that exists in the country, opposite to what is done
with the rest of the economic sectors, for which INEGI produces monthly and yearly
information based on a survey system.
Conscientious of the scarcity of agricultural information, INEGI is making an effort to
provide statistical information that supports decision-making. The Institute is working
within the Global Strategy for Improving Agricultural and Rural Statistics, promoted by the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). On this path, INEGI
started designing an Agricultural Information System, integrated by the agricultural census
and surveys, as well as by images of the national territory, Geo-statistical Frame, list of
producers and data from administrative registers. This project is worked on together with
the Ministry of Agriculture, counting on the support of some experts from FAO.
In this context, INEGI designed the first National Agricultural Survey, taking the 2007
Agricultural Census as the frame. Its objective was to obtain updated statistical data on the
33 most important agricultural products in Mexico, which were selected according to their
contribution to the sectorial Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as well as by national and
international recommendations. The survey has a stratified sampling design and the size of
the sample is of 97 442 production units. The field work was performed in the entire
country from October 22 to December 14, 2012.
One of the main strengths of this survey was the use of mobile computer devices (tablets).
The digitalized cartography, the satellite images as well as the questionnaire were loaded in
these devices. Data collecting was carried out by a face to face interview with the producer,
followed by a specific procedure that was specially designed for the survey.
The use of this type of technology has been an important experience, and for the process
represents key learning. This survey is expected to be the beginning of a Mexican
continuous survey system, as part of our Agricultural Information System.
Keywords: Mobile computer devices, Continuous survey system, Agricultural Information.
1. Introduction
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) has gone through a relevant
experience when incorporating technology into the processes of producing statistical and
geographical information. The great challenge for the Institute, in this sense, is to create
systems that enhance the statistical information collecting methods, and way guide the
interviewer in a friendly way through the steps to follow to do this task, besides
contributing in reducing the standardization process time, the validation, the data analysis
and the publication of the results.
INEGI has 9 years of experience in the use of mobile electronic devices (DEM) for data
collecting. In 2004, the collection of the Economic Census data in Mexico was harnessed to
perform a test with these devices, called Personal Digital Assistant (PDA English
acronym), to capture information in 10% of the small and medium economic
establishments.
In the period 2005-2007, different tests were made on data collecting and operation
monitoring processes in PDA, to guarantee an optimum collection that was controlled and
with higher quality than the one performed until then. So, three years after the 2004
Economic Census, the Institute decided that all the interviews to collect the information
directly from the farmer for the VIII 2007 Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Census,
were to be done with PDA, this marked a historical precedent, since mobile devices to
capture census information were then used massively for the first time in Mexico.
After the 2007 Agricultural Census, INEGI used the PDA in the 2009 Economic Censuses
again, but in this occasion, it was used to capture data from 100% of the small and medium
establishments, thus reducing time and enhancing the quality of the information.
2. Technological Innovations for data collecting
With the experience in the use of PDAs and the harnessing of technological advances in
terms of geographical information systems, the Institute sought for the data capturing
projects to include digital cartography for the planning stages, execution, operational
monitoring and the presentation of results. That is why as of 2010, tests are run to collect
information with electronic devices such as tablets:
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In terms of planning, the generation and distribution of the workloads were
evaluated.
In the stage of execution, a comprehensive capturing system with three components
was tested: questionnaire, catalogs and cartographic material.
As for operational monitoring, the linkage of various systems allowed registering
the progress as interviews were concluded, assigning field codes to each interview
and questionnaire.
Regarding the presentation of results, the use of the tablet allowed the farm´s data to
be associated to the exact physical space where the activity develops at the moment
of the interview, so Geographical Consultation Systems can be created from the
results obtained.
The goal was mainly to increase the quality
of the data that was collected on field, above
all in the production unit´s total area
variable, considered the most important and
basic variable, whose capturing until that
moment was based on drawing the shape of
the agricultural land plots and noting the
area stated by the farmers, and subsequently
digitizing the vertices of the land plots in a
geographical information system with
satellite images.
Agricultural Geo-statistical Information Query System (SCIGA).
As a consequence of that way of obtaining this variable, the farmer could provide unreal
data on the area: the producers of the small farms tended to state more area than they really
had, and the opposite happened with the large farms that stated less, affecting good part of
the variables from the questionnaire, as the planted, harvested area, with irrigation
availability, as well as crop yields, among others; instead, with this new way, we ensure
that the data reported by the producers improves, since some of their answers are being
validated during the interview, they tend to respond more faithfully, so that increases the
quality of the collected information; for example, in the 2012 ENA the difference between
the reported area and the cartographic area of the production units was reduced to
practically zero.
From the expectations and projected scopes, the features of the electronic device that would
be used in the 2012 National Agricultural Survey (ENA) were determined. The
characteristics were:
Processor
Ram
Hard disk
Screen
Intel N2600 1.6Ghz 512K L2
2 GB
64 GB
Touchscreen of 10.1” with 1024x1600
resolution
Battery
6 cells 10.8V,
Operational system Windows 7 Home Premium in Spanish
Maximum weight
3.5 pnds. (1.6 kg).
Electronic Device tablet type.
For this survey INEGI acquired 814 tablets with which 97,442 interviews were applied.
The equipment continues to be used in different capturing projects performed by INEGI.
Tablet´s capturing system
The tablet used in the 2012 ENA operated through data capturing system based on three
basic components:
 The operational routine: the part of the system that contains a series of questions
and instructions which provide the order of development of the interview with the
farmers.
 The cartographic module: the geographic part of the system that has the digital
cartographic elements to create or update, directly with the farmer, the land plot
vector files and capture elemental data of plots and farmers.
 The electronic questionnaire: the system´s third component which allows capturing
the information on the features and the way of managing the farms.
For the correct functioning of each of the components, a series of inputs were used and
these were integrated by the following:
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The workload for each interviewer, formed by a directory of farmers with names
and addresses.
The digital cartography, that included satellite images, vector files with the
delimitation of each land and geographical information layers that allowed locating
and identifying the farmer´s lands more easily.
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Catalogs through which it was possible to assign homogenous codes to crops and
livestock species, as well as to the land area. Through these catalogs it was possible
to standardize all the products and areas in units of the decimal metric system.
Operational Routine
The operational routine is the part of the system that contains the questions and indications
that the interviewer must follow to define the characteristics that each producer has and
determine the type of questionnaire that will be applied; also, it is the link between the
cartographic module and the questionnaire. The data on names and addresses is updated in
the operational routine, all the producer´s plots are updated in the cartographic module, and
once they are all updated the module is closed and the operational routine is reestablished,
in which the production unit is automatically integrated, this is the basis to go to the next
system´s component which is the electronic questionnaire.
To perform the interviews, the initial activity consists on locating the farmer in the address
registered in the directory; then, it is sought to find out if the person is still a farmer,
identifying the main activity performed and the interviewer continues capturing or updating
socio-demographic data. Data capturing in the system starts from the first contact with the
farmer, who is asked the questions contained in the operational routine, with which the
operational controls are being established,
allowing the interview to be guided according to
the features of each farm.
The operational routine is the part of the system
that allows the interviewer to navigate to
characterize each farmer and determine the type
of questionnaire that will be applied, besides
being the link between the cartographic module
and the questionnaire.
The operational routine displayed on the tablet´s screen.
Cartographic Module
Once the farmer registered in the directory is identified, each of his/her lands are verified.
For this, the system displays the cartographic module on the screen, through which the
farmer with the support of the interviewer and based on the cartographic information
included in the tablet, identifies and locates each of the land plots under his/her
responsibility.
In particular, it is worth highlighting that the cartographic module operates as a
Geographical Information System´s tool, since it displays the satellite image on screen that
can be zoomed in or out according to the needs, and different layers of information can be
overlapped, such as the land layers that were produced in the 2007 Census, with its
corresponding geo-statistical information, the size and the producer´s general data, making
their location easy when performing an operation like the 2012 ENA.
Cartographic Module displayed on the tablet
The cartographic module also has an option for creating land polygons, so that when a
farmer´s plot is not displayed on the shape file, the interviewer marks the vertices based on
the physical features of the image and on the indications that the producer gives on the
location of each vertex.
In the case of the area, the cartographic module generates the data on the size of the plot
and the system compares it with the producer´s answer; in case the result of the comparison
comes out of the difference range permitted (established in advance), the system displays a
warning indicating the pollster to confirm the answer.
One of the main concerns was that the producers could discard the area data “calculated”
by the system when it was very different to the one they reported, or even affect the
producer´s willingness to continue answering ENA´s questions. However it was not the
case: the data yielded by the system was well accepted and in general the producers
corrected their answers after seeing their plot displayed on the tablet and the measurement
done by the system. In some cases this led to thinking if the plot limits that the producer
had initially pointed out were the correct ones or not, and even check if the plot´s they had
reported were theirs or not, or if there had been an error.
Electronic Questionnaire
Once the verification of all the producer´s plots is done, the system automatically integrates
the production unit and displays the electronic questionnaire to continue with the interview.
This format facilitates several processes that in a printed questionnaire would not be so
simple, for example, while answering the questionnaire, the system performs the
codification of crops and livestock species based on preloaded catalogs, the system also has
some internal validation processes incorporated, in which among other data, the production
unit´s total area consistency is validated regarding the breakdown on the use of land, the
consistency between the total of each livestock species regarding its breakdown by age or
zoo-technical function.
When completing the questionnaire, the system generates a report with the detected
inconsistencies and the interviewer can check each of these with the producer.
Capacitación y características del personal operativo
The use of the tablet requires training where the instructor teaches the interviewers the
instrument´s functioning and handling, prioritizing on the exercise through field practices,
which will allow the development of skills and abilities needed to efficiently perform the
assigned activities. Training must be centralized
on aspects related to the knowledge of the
capturing system´s components, combining the
theory with the practice, in which the interviewer
trains through the simulation of interviews; but
the key is the field work experience directly with
the farmers, since that is where real situations
will be faced and that will allow the acquisition
of confidence and security in the handling of the
device.
Data collection through a device, tablet type,
preferably requires hiring a group of interviewers
integrated by personnel with experience in the
handling of electronic devices. It has been proven that the people that are best qualified for
handling these tablets are the young, whereas adults and mainly the elders have more
difficulty handling a tablet, especially in rural areas where this type of technology is not
very common.
Another important element when hiring pollsters is the academic profile, evidently those
that have a professional or technical career related to the agricultural sector or earth
science, quickly assimilate the transmitted knowledge, but also, the knowledge they have
allows them to overcome any operational issue during the field work. However, in a
massive event it is complicated to hire only personnel with that academic profile, so that is
why in occasions others with the experience in events of the same nature are hired.
Field practice during training.
3. Results from the use of DEM in the 2012 ENA
The use of mobile electronic devices (DEM) in data collecting has great advantages over
the traditional collecting method done by printed questionnaires. Some of those advantages
are described below:
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Using the DEM allows validating the farm area stated by the farmer vs the
cartographic data obtained when digitalizing the land plot vertices at the moment of
the interview. Validating the production unit’s area variables in real time during the
interview allows substantially enhancing data quality, since the system applies
maximum area parameters, and if these are surpassed by the size of any farm, the
system immediately sends a message to confirm the data stated by the farmer. The
use of DEM suppresses the use of questionnaires, cartography and printed control
formats, which represent a significant savings of paper. For example, the printing of
103 thousand maps, 615 thousand manual pages, 159 thousand directory pages and
2.6 million questionnaire pages was cancelled.
 Each interviewer stopped carrying approximately 149 farmer directory pages, 61
plot list pages, 180 questionnaires and 135 maps.
 Makes it unnecessary to hire additional staff for capturing, coding and validating
captured information, as well as the staff who would perform land digitalization.
Altogether saved hiring 512 employees for three months.
 Enabled the execution of basic validation processes, codifying and standardizing the
questionnaire´s variables during the interview.
 Streamlines the transfer of the data collected on field to the central data-base,
through USB or internet.
 Agiliza la generación de reportes de control y avance operativo, debido a que la
integración de la información captada en campo se realiza de manera automatizada.
 Increases the security of the captured information, since only authorized personnel
can extract it from the device or transfer it to its final destination (national database).
 Guarantees the confidentiality and integrity of the information provided by the
farmers, since the access to the systems is through personalized passwords.
In brief, the use of the DEM constitutes a great qualitative leap forward compared to the
traditional way of capturing information, because it enables the combination of (and as
mentioned before, with great operational and economical advantages, regarding the
information´s security and processing, etc.) the questionnaire, the cartography, the
geographical and operational catalogs in a single place, together with all the applications
needed to guarantee that the statistical information is perfectly linked with the place where
the economic activity takes place.
Now, given the advantages obtained when capturing information through electronic
devices, INEGI has created a trend using these devices in its projects, for which, and as part
of the Economic Censuses that will be conducted in 2014, is making the purchase of 17,667
DEMs, that will also be used this year for the 2013 School, Teachers and Students Census,
and later for different surveys, as well as the Agricultural Census programmed for 2017.
Input loaded through the system on the tablet type device.