COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 20.06.1996 
COM(96) 287 final 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME 
FOR THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURAL 
SURVEYS IN GREECE 
(Article 5 of Council Decision 85/360/EEC of 16 July 1985) 

I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The plan for the restructuring of agricultural statistics in Greece was adopted in 1985 
(Council Decision 85/360/EEC of 16 July 1985, as last amended by Council Decision 
92/582/EEC of 14 December 1992 - cf. Annex 1), with the following objectives: 
- to create a technical and administrative infrastructure at central, regional and provincial 
level capable of dealing with all operations relating to agricultural statistics now and in 
the years to come; 
- to obtain improved bases for sampling, particularly by creating a register of agricultural 
holdings; 
- to introduce computerized inputting, checking and processing of data at central, 
regional and subregional level; 
- to bring about the gradual introduction of the Community programme of agricultural 
surveys and statistics with a view to providing the Community with the information 
(statistical data) required for the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. 
As laid down in Article 5 of Decision 85/360/EEC, the Commission each year submits a 
report to the Council on the implementation of the programme. This outlines all the 
applications introduced, the activities undertaken and the measures adopted during 1994 
by the competent authorities (Statistical Service and Ministry of Agriculture) and which 
were required to attain the objective of the programme. 
II. PROGRESS 
1. - This report takes account of the comments made at the last meeting of the "Agricultural 
statistics" group of the Council (held on 5 December 1995 in Brussels); one suggestion 
made was that this document should, as far as possible, be shorter that the previous 
reports. 
2. The work undertaken during 1994 - in particular the use of the new register of agricultural 
and livestock holdings and the redesigning of all the surveys - achieved significant results 
and provided the basis for more in-depth reflection on further improvements to the new 
system. 
3. In general, the statistical activities planned in the 1994 programme (presented in 
Luxembourg in 1993 at the meeting of the working group and the SCAS - cf. Annex 2) 
match the data in this report. 
Nonetheless, there is a significant difference in terms of the level of expenditure shown in 
the table in Annex 3: thus, the programme made provision for DR 1 709 000 000 (about 
ECU 5.7 million) whereas the report of work undertaken, presented by the Greek 
authorities in 1995, shows a total of DR 927 306 932 (about ECU 3.1 million). This 
difference can be attributed to the fact that the processing of the results of the agricultural 
surveys conducted in 1994 was only carried out in 1995 (for the reasons mentioned in 
point 1.1 of Annex 2), whereas the programme had scheduled this for 1994. 
4. Although computerization has been completed at central and regional levels, the same is 
not true of the administrative infrastructure (staff), particularly at regional level. 
In order to decentralize the data processing of all surveys, it is vital for all the regional 
offices to have an adequate number of staff qualified to use modern technologies. 
The Greek authorities responsible for the application of the programme have promised 
repeatedly to take steps to overcome this problem, but even now, two years before the 
end of the programme, the situation is far from satisfactory. 
5. The authorities should also focus attention on developing data banks and on designing a 
general plan for interconnection and communication between the computer system of the 
Ministry of Agriculture and that oftheNSSG. 
6. In the timetable of activities for 1993-1996, presented by the Greek authorities during the 
procedure leading to the second amendment of the Council Decision, the measures 
planned for 1994 included: 
- the development of the geographic information system (GIS); 
- completion of the transfer of the survey of slaughterings from the Ministry of 
Agriculture to the NSSG. 
To our knowledge, little progress has been made with regard to the first measure, while 
the second is planned for January 1996. 
ANNEX 1 
TIMETABLE 
Originally, the aim was to put the plan into effect over a period of five years (1986-1990), starting 
with the region of Thrace-Macedonia in 1986 and ending with the island of Crete in 1990. However, 
Greece has twice obtained an extension of the deadline under Council Decisions 90/386/EEC and 
92/582/EEC, and the completion date has thus been postponed to 1996. The new timetable is set out 
below: 
1986 - first year 
1987 - second year 
1988 - third year 
1989 - fourth year 
1990 - fifth year 
1991 - sixth year 
1992 - seventh year 
1993 - eighth year 
1994 - ninth year 
1995 - tenth year 
1996 - eleventh year Macedonia; 
Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly and Epirus; 
Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus, Central Greece and the Ionian 
Islands; 
Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus, Central Greece, the Ionian 
Islands and the Péloponnèse; 
Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus, Central Greece, the Ionian 
Islands, the Péloponnèse and Crete; 
Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus, Central Greece, the Ionian 
Islands, the Péloponnèse, Crete and the Aegean Islands (North and 
South); 
first trial of the new system in the whole of Greece; 
creation of a sampling frame based on the results of the 1991 general 
survey of agriculture; 
extension of remote sensing to cover the whole of the mainland and 
the island of Crete; 
exploitation of the synergies between the central and regional 
technical and administrative infrastructures set up by the Statistical 
Office and the Ministry of Agriculture, respectively, when 
implementing the programme of surveys undertaken by the Statistical 
Office; 
introduction of the new system for the whole of Greece; 
monitoring and critical analysis of the results obtained during the first 
year of actual implementation. 
In November 1997, the Commission will present to the Council a report on the implementation of 
the programme which will outline the results achieved. 
ANNEX 2 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN 
OF RESTRUCTURING IN 1994 
1. Statistical applications 
1.1. NSSG 
During 1994, all the sample surveys, taking the agricultural holding as unit, were 
redesigned on the basis of the new register created in 1993 using data from the 1991 
census of agriculture. 
lsl 
As a result, new programmes for processing data and extracting results from the 
1994 surveys have had to be designed. Given the magnitude of this task, it was 
decided to entrust the design and implementation of a new system of agricultural 
statistics encompassing all the surveys in the agricultural sector to a private 
organization. 
The design and implementation of the new system were completed during the first 
quarter of 1995, thereby enabling all the data from the 1994 surveys to be processed 
in this way. 
Eurostat received the results of these 1994 surveys between October and November 
1995. 
Apart from the traditional statistical activities (i.e. survey of the structure of 
agricultural holdings, of livestock, of fruit trees, of vineyards, of cereals and the 
annual agricultural survey), the following statistical surveys were also conducted in 
1994: 
- Survey of slaughterhouses: 
Although this survey remains the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, the 
NSSG conducted it for the first time on a pilot basis in 1993 and has been handling it 
on a regular basis since 1994. 
As from January 1996 the plan is that the NSSG will transmit the results of the 
surveys of slaughterhouses on a regular basis and that the Ministry of Agriculture will 
cease to conduct these surveys. 
- Survey of yields by Area Frame Sampling: 
The survey of cereals production, based on a sample obtained by Area Frame 
Sampling using the remote-sensing agricultural statistics survey (conducted by the 
Ministry of Agriculture), was carried out in 1993 by the NSSG in cooperation with 
the Ministry in the Thessaly region. 
In 1994 this was extended to Crete and Epirus. 
The aim of this pilot survey is, firstly, to enable the NSSG to study the survey of 
yields by direct interview, via the existing mechanism for conducting surveys, and 
secondly, to enable the Ministry to study the implementation of the survey of crop 
areas, with the aid of the sample obtained by area frame sampling. 
1.2. Ministry of Agriculture 
The main activity undertaken in the field of statistical applications since 1991 relates 
to the statistical estimates made with the aid of area frame sampling. 
In 1994, the programme was extended to Crete and Epirus, thereby covering almost 
the whole of Greece with the exception of the small islands. 
In addition to the field enumeration method used to date, the points methods was 
tested on a restricted area with a view to obtaining comparative date. 
The other statistical activities undertaken related to: 
• statistics on milk and dairy products; 
• statistics on plant production; 
• monthly estimates of slaughterings - forecasts of animal production (meat); 
• monthly statistics on production and trade in eggs for hatching and annual statistics 
on the structure and utilization of incubators; 
• FADN. 
2. Computerization 
2.1. NSSG 
The process of acquiring the technical hardware and software needed to cover 
current requirements for all the various agricultural statistical applications at both 
central and regional levels has been completed. 
Simultaneously, the "KLISTHENIS" programme (Commission Decision C(94) 1422 
of 29 July 1994 - Modernization of government departments) guarantees the 
extension, replacement and correct functioning of the equipment to cover future 
needs. 
While connection between the centre and the province is possible at the level of the 
regional development services and the nomi, there is a shortage of specialist staff to 
ensure the correct functioning of the network. This is only fully operational when 
staffing permits. 
In terms of computer equipment, the following measures were undertaken. 
• 9 RISC systems, used in a pilot phase by the central service as client servers, were 
installed in 1994; 
• in order to increase its capacity, the central system was extended to incorporate 
the databases of the farm census and the register installed to process and analyse 
the surveys; 
• A juke box optical disk system was purchased for use in storing information and 
disseminating it to the various regional centres. 
2.2. Ministry of Agriculture 
As in 1993, 1994 saw continued support for the computerization of statistical 
applications via the network of the Ministry of Agriculture. 
A call for tenders was launched at the end of 1994 to supplement the overall software 
and hardware package, primarily with a view to the successful completion of the 
geographical analysis of samples using satellite images and digitized slides. 
3. Staff/training 
3-L MM 
The previous report (1993) mentioned the one-year extension of the contracts of 419 
persons with fixed-term private-law contracts. 
In February 1995, these staff became permanent. 
A large majority of these persons work exclusively on agricultural statistics. 
The need for specialized staff has been met by reemploying the staff (150 persons) 
who worked on a contract basis until 1990 and who are now gradually being 
reintegrated into the various NSSG departments. 
All the above staff have begun to attend special training programmes designed to 
meet the immediate needs arising from the installation of the new equipment and the 
use of modern technologies. 
Simultaneously, courses aimed at the entire staff of the NSSG were held in 1994; 
these dealt with the problems linked to the survey methodology, data processing, etc. 
These courses were financed from other sources and involved officials from all the 
competent directorates. 
3,2. Ministry of Agriculture 
During the first half of 1994, the programme called on the services of 52 contract 
staff (users and programmers). 
During the second half of 1994, these staff became permanent, thereby ensuring 
continued back-up for the programme after 1996. 
Many further training courses were held; these were aimed at staff of the 
"informatics", "policy" and "agriculture" directorates who are generally involved in 
implementing the "Greek Plan". These courses were both in-house and external (via 
the office of the Minister attached to the Prime Minister) and were not charged to the 
budget for the programme of restructuring of agricultural statistics. 
ANNEX 3 
INFORMATION ABOUT THE FINANCIAL 
ASPECTS OF THE PLAN OF 
RESTRUCTURING 
The table on the next page shows overall expenditure in 1994. 
It should be noted that, pursuant to Article 1(5) of Council Decision 90/386/EEC amending Decision 
85/360/EEC, the level of Community participation in the programme is two-thirds of overall 
expenditure since 1991, instead of the one-third which applied up to 1990. 
Ministry of Economic Affairs - Secretariat General of the NSSG 
Category of expenditure Ministry of Agriculture 
Amounts in Dr 
I. EXPENDITURE ON INFRASTRUCTURE 
1. Computerization 
a) SECRETARIAT-GENERAL OF THE NSSG 
i) Purchase of hardware and software 
ii) Soil ware support 
iii) Auxiliary equipment and consumables 
iv) Maintenance 
v) Network charges 
vi) 18% VAT on i, ii, iii, iv and v 154 675 994 
70618715 
84 057 279 466 753 728 
254 850 087 
b) MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE 
i) Purchase of hardware and software 
ii) Software support 
iii) Auxiliary equipment and consumables 
iv) Maintenance 
v) Network charges 
vi) 18% VAT on i, ii, iii, iv and v 
2. Accommodation 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
3. Office equipment 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
4. Training equipment 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
5. Vehicles 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
6. Other technical and administrative 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
7. Staff skill enhancement (training) 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
8. Staff skill enhancement (training) 
(i) Secretariat-General of the NSSG 
(ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
II. EXPENDITURE ON STATISTICAL APPLICATIONS 
a) SECRETARIAT-GENERAL OF THE NSSG 
1. Cereals 
2. Surveys of livestock 
3. Surveys of trees 
4. Annual agricultural survey 
5. Survey of vineyards 100174 093 
885 000 
99 289 093 
33 053 150 
102 971 557 
42 452 031 
30 862 552 
2 564 351 
14 665 152 
32 704 131 
38 268 991 
81 271 639 
43 343 036 33 053 150 
145 423 588 
33 426 903 
460 553 204 
214 349 238 
6. Restructuring of agricultural statistics 
7. Structure of agricultural holdings 
8. Survey of yields 
b) MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE 
1, Statistical applica'^u'v: 
Remote sensing 
GRAND TOTAL (DRACHMAS) 1 603 939 
1 918 350 
574 000 
63 161 873 
183 042 093 246 203 966 
927 306 932 
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ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(96) 287 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 17 03 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-96-293-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-05600-6 
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