COVERAGE ISSUES IN AGRICULTURAL SURVEYS IN THE
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
Marija Karasicevic
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia
Milana Rakica 5, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
+ 381 11 2412-922 ext 402
e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The Statistical Farm Register (SFR) is the key element in the Agricultural Statistical System.
The sampling frames for agricultural surveys are built using the data on agricultural holdings
from the SFR, which means that well constructed and up-to-date register is the basis for
setting up a coherent system of sample based agricultural statistics.
In the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS), initial Statistical Farm
Register (SFR) has been constructed in 2013. Initial SFR included all agricultural holdings
identified during the Agricultural Census 2012. Since 2014, SFR is updated using data from
the Register of Agricultural Holdings of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental
Protection, Bovine Register, data from Statistical Business Register and survey data. The
main goal of updates is to allow tracking the changes in the holdings using different sources.
The main issues in the updating procedure are establishing reliable links and consistency of
the variable definitions between relevant sources. During the process of updating process, it
is possible to encounter: splitting and merging holdings, holding ceased to exist in one source
and holding is active in another, holding exist in administrative source and not in SFR. Issues
concerning updating SFR have impact on the coverage errors of the sampling frame.
The procedure for updating SFR from administrative sources has been written by
Department of Agriculture in SORS, but it hasn’t been officially verified by all parties
involved. Updating from surveys has also been done, but appropriate procedure still hasn’t
been written. Some obstacles, their impact on coverage errors and ideas for solving them will
be presented in this paper.