Kremić: BiH fulfills its obligations on the way to the European Union with the census of agriculture (VIDEO)

The pilot census of agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be conducted from October 15 to 30 this year in all statistical institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the jointly established methodology.

The director of the Federal Statistical Office, Emir Kremić, points out for Fena that the last census of agriculture in BiH was conducted in 1960, and that a unique methodology has now been adopted at the level of BiH, in cooperation with all three statistical institutions (Statistics Agency of BiH, Federal Statistical Office and Republic statistical office of the RS), as well as a unique questionnaire based on EU norms in order to carry out that census.

The census, he says, will provide the necessary structural data on agriculture, which is an obligation of BiH on the way to obtaining the status of a candidate for EU membership, and one of the conditions from the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

“We must note that statistics has its own special chapter when it comes to negotiations with the EU, and that is chapter 18. The pilot census of agriculture, that is, a trial census, will be conducted from October 15 to 30 this year, as it was done and the pilot population census, to see, that is, to test how the questionnaire and applications work, even though the EUROSTAT (Statistical Office of the European Union) standards have been adopted when it comes to this census,” Kremić points out.

This year, he adds, the trial census is being conducted on the basis of about 9,000 farms and households when talking about FBiH. In total, there are about 200 census circles, of which 112 are in the FBiH, and the rest are in the RS in Brčko District.

“In the official census that is planned for next year, probably at the same time as this census, there should be about 300 thousand households, that is, farms,” said the director of the Federal Bureau of Statistics.

Kremić points out that during the establishment of that register, support will be provided in an adequate way to the entity ministries of agriculture, and that based on these data, they will be able to apply for additional funds from the EU for both agriculture and the livestock fund in BiH.

All data collected from individual households, he says, is considered an official secret, and the data obtained from the pilot census will not be used publicly.

“We need to get the exact data, for example, how much land is sown, how much is cultivable, how much is uncultivable, how much is in the rural part, what are the agricultural crops and how many of them, data on livestock and the importance of the pilot census lies in this that after the realization and analysis of the obtained results, all the necessary preconditions for the realization of a full census of agriculture will be ensured”, said Kremić in an interview for Fena.