2023 Agricultural Census, Recording Indonesian Agriculture for Food Sovereignty and Farmer Welfare

The Agricultural Census is a ten-year activity carried out by BPS to comprehensively photograph the condition of Indonesia's agriculture in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 16 of 1997 concerning Statistics. To date, the Agricultural Census has been carried out six times since 1963 and the seventh Agricultural Census will be held in 2023. Agricultural activities covered in the Agricultural Census always increase every decade of the Census implementation. In 2023, the Agricultural Census is planned to cover seven main sub-sectors namely Food Crops, Horticulture, Plantations, Livestock, Fisheries, Forestry and Agricultural Services. The development of the times demands that the Agricultural Census must be able to answer data needs both at the national and international levels. The 2023 Agricultural Census (ST2023) is designed so that the results obtained are of international standard. In 2023, the implementation of the International Standard Agricultural Census refers to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) program known as the World Program for The Census of Agriculture (WCA). WCA 2020 is a guide issued by FAO for the implementation of the world Agricultural Census from 2016 to 2025. Currently, countries in the world use different agricultural census methodologies depending on circumstances, level of development of the methodology and data needs. Therefore, FAO expects countries in the world to use the 2020 WCA guidelines to carry out their Agricultural Census. The use of the standards, concepts and definitions offered in the 2020 WCA guidelines ensures the comparability of the data collected so that they can be compared with the performance of other countries. WCA 2020 can also help each country to develop integrated census and survey programs, use innovations and cost-effective methodologies, and expand the dissemination of census data for strategic decision making.

Agricultural Census Objectives

The implementation of the 2023 Agricultural Census (ST2023) aims to provide agricultural structure data, especially for the smallest administrative units. Not only that, ST2023 data can also be used as a benchmark for current agricultural statistics and provide a sample frame for further agricultural surveys.

ST2023 Outcome

In fact, a large activity carried out such as a census must provide great benefits to the community. The greater the benefits received, the more effective the activity. These benefits are called outcomes. Designing outcomes must be able to understand the needs of the community. Without understanding the need, the outcome contribution will be less than the maximum. Then what are the benefits that the community will get from ST2023?

First, the availability of an integrated and sustainable agricultural data collection system with the Agricultural Census as the main arrangement and AGRIS as annual supplementary data between the two censuses. The integration of every survey and activity at BPS is a dream for all parties because it will be able to make what is done efficiently and effectively. Monitoring and evaluation will also be easy to obtain. Work systematically for quality data.

Second, the availability of Agricultural Statistics data both in tabular and geospatial form. Third, the availability of comprehensive agricultural data that meets regional data, especially for small areas to the village level.

Fourth, the fulfillment of agricultural data for the global agenda, for example the SDGs Indicators in the Agricultural Sector.

Fifth, the preparation of ST2023 pays special attention to capturing strategic national agricultural issues that refer to the RPJMN and have an impact on government strategic decision making. In the absence of agricultural indicators, the government has set NTP (Farmers' Exchange Rate) as a target to see the welfare of farmers, although some experts also disagree that NTP is used as an indicator to measure farmers' welfare. So far, we have produced NTP whose value is expected to increase continuously every year.

Sixth, the implementation of ST2023 is designed by taking into account the criteria for cost effective data collection tools and methodology recommended by FAO. Finally, the use of administrative data can reduce the burden on respondents while simplifying the direct data collection instrument for variables that have been obtained through administrative data. The various ST2023 outcome targets prove how important agricultural data is for a country, especially Indonesia, which is an agricultural country.

Accurate data and information are very important for the government in planning and evaluating development, especially in the agricultural sector. Data such as lanterns and compasses, will be a light and a guide to where this country is going.

ST2023 Roadmap

The ST2023 activity roadmap has been designed by BPS with various activities that support the smooth implementation which will actually take place next year. For 2022, there will be two main activities carried out, namely complete data collection of agricultural companies covering food crops, horticulture, plantations, livestock, fisheries, and forestry, as well as rehearsal activities for the complete ST2023 enumeration. In addition, there are other activities that are no less important to be carried out in 2022, namely intama and innas training, as well as trials of agricultural economic surveys. As the peak year of the ST2023 implementation, there will be registration activities for agriculture, fishery, and forestry households (by name by address) to obtain a complete picture of household profiles and farming, land tenure, livestock, concessions, social forestry, and so on. . As a final series of ST2023 implementation, in 2024 the Agricultural Production and Environmental Survey will be carried out as well as the publicity of ST2023 results as a whole. The implementation of ST2023 is expected to respond to current problems and issues related to agriculture as a whole. One of them is by maintaining the consistency of concepts, measurements, and census procedures so that the results can be compared apple to apple with ST2013 results. One of the focuses of attention on the implementation of ST2023 is that the activity that has been going on since 1963 must be able to measure whether the food self-sufficiency program can be realized and guarantee sustainable agriculture. There are still many current issues that must be responded to in the ST2023 series of activities. In other words, ST2023 must provide optimal benefits and be responsive to current issues and issues in agriculture.