Annual report from the Commission to the Council on the implementation of the programme for restructuring the system of agricultural surveys in Greece (1996)
Date: 1997-12-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Greece, activity report, agricultural statistics, data processing, sample survey

«SfiSPIPiPP 

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  05.12.1997 
COM(97) 665  final 

ANNUAL REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE 

COUNCIL ON THE IMPLEMENTATION  OF THE  PROGRAMME  FOR 

RESTRUCTURING  THE SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURAL  SURVEYS 

IN GREECE 

1996 

(Article 5, Council Decision 85/360/EEC of  16 July  1985) 

I. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.  The  plan  for  restructuring  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) with the following  aims: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

to  set  up  a  technical  and  administrative  structure  at  central,  regional  and 
provincial  level,  capable  of  running  all  operations  connected  with  agricultural 
statistics in both the present and the  future; 

the  improve  the  sampling  frames,  above  all  by  compiling  a  register  of  farm 
holdings; 

to  install  at  central,  regional  and  sub-regional  level  a  computer  system  to  input, 
check and process data; 

to  put  into  practice,  on  a  progressive  basis,  the  Community  programme  of 
agricultural  surveys  and  statistics  in  order  to  provide  the  Community  with  the 
information  it requires for implementing the CAP. 

2.  As laid down in Article 5 of Council Decision  85/360/EEC, the Commission  submits 
to  the  Council  an  annual  progress  report  on  the  programme,  setting  out  all  the 
applications  put  into  practice,  the  action  taken  and  the  measures  adopted  during 
1996  by  the competent  authorities  (Statistical  Office  and Ministry  of Agriculture)  in 
order to complete the programme. 

II. 

PROGRESS  MADE 

In  1996, the  last  year  in  which  the programme  was  applied,  the  action  taken  to  improve 
the system for collecting, processing and presenting data was completed. 

This  year  the  emphasis  was  on  improving  the  sampling  frames  by  conducting  a  special 
micro-census to update the register (see Annex 1). 

The  most  serious  problem  encountered  in  the  past  few  years  was  that  of  updating  the 
register drawn up on the basis of the  1991 agricultural census. 

The  initial  solution  was  to  update  a  central  register  for  the  whole  country  for  use  by 
remote  users,  with  an  on-line  connection  via  the  telephone  network.  This  solution  was 
not found  to be satisfactory,  since it does not guarantee the accuracy  of the recorded  data 
and is prone to the problems inherent in a public telephone system. 

The information-technology  directorate therefore  decided  in  1996 to set up local  registers 
to  be  maintained  by  the  staff  of  the  local  statistical  offices  and  used  as  a  basis  for 
updating the central register in Athens. 

ESYE  (Greek  National  Statistical  Institute)  is  able  to  confirm  that  all  agricultural 
applications  can  both  run  and  produce  results  at  local  level,  wherever  the  methodology 

pemiits.  The  applications  were  designed  according  to  the  client/server  approach  of  the 
LAN  of  the  local  office,  which  comprises  two  to  eight  workstations,  depending  on  the 
It  should  be  stressed  that  all 
capacity  and  requirements  of  the  office  concerned. 
applications  are  designed  for  processing  at  local  level,  so  that  they  can  be  used 
immediately to supply local information  as soon as the methodology allows. 

Given the  continuous  growth in the number of tasks, particularly  of the  staff  of the  local 
offices  but also in the changes in the roles and objectives  of the staff  at the central  office, 
the  new  system  imposed  new  training  requirements.  We  therefore  drew  up  special 
courses  to  train  and  inform  the  staff  dealing  with  agricultural  statistics.  These  included 
continuing training and information  for the staff  supporting the geographical  applications 
in the central and local offices,  enabling them to specialise  in the conduct  and  processing 
of agricultural  surveys using modem methods. 

Large-scale  seminars  were  organised  in  1996  on  the  special  survey  for  updating  the 
register:  inspectors  from  all prefectures  first  attended  seminars  at two  training  centres  in 
Athens  and  Saloniki;  they  themselves  then  organised  local  seminars  to  inform  the 
assistant inspectors and interviewers taking part in the survey. 

Finally, to complete the agricultural  statistics restructuring programme and set up the new 
statistical  information  system,  a  major  seminar  entitled  "Agricultural  statistics  in 
Greece and the EU - developments  and prospects" was organised  in Athens  at the end 
of  1996 by  the  ESYE  Secretariat  General, the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Eurostat,  and 
was  attended  by  all  employees  involved  in producing  statistics  in  the  central  and  local 
offices  and  the  two  organisations  (the  ESYE  Secretariat  General  and  the  Ministry  of 
Agriculture)  and  by  users  from  various  organisations  in  the  agricultural  policy  domain, 
universities,  research  institutes  etc.  The  aim  was  to  make  the  new  Greek  agricultural 
statistics  system  known  and  to  bring  into  contact  those  involved  in  producing  statistics, 
enabling  them  to  recognise  their  role  within  the production  chain,  express  opinions  and 
make  proposals.  Speakers  from  the  Commission,  the  Member  States  and  Greece  dealt 
with the following  subjects: 

•  the CAP and the need for statistics; 

•  agricultural  statistics in the EU context; 

•  Greek agricultural  statistics and the need for a national  strategy; 

•  use of and prospects for the register of farm holdings. 

The  aim  was  to  make  the  participants  aware  of  the  equivalent  systems  in  the  Member 
States, the new requirements arising from the CAP and the future  of agricultural  statistics. 

This  seminar  also  gave  the  various  users  an  opportunity  to  get  to  know  the  results  and 
capabilities of the new system and to exchange opinions and proposals, which will lay the 
foundations  for  permanent  dialogue  on the development  and  continuous  improvement  of 
the system. 

III.  CONCLUSION 

The new system has proved to work very satisfactorily. It is a modem system of statistical 
information  able to provide, on time and with a degree of reliability, the data needed to 
meet national and Community requirements in the agricultural sector.  The demonstration 
carried out in Lamia showed it to be a flexible and open-ended system capable of meeting 
the requirements of the future. 

ANNEX  1 

L 

REGISTER  OF FARM  HOLDINGS 

The  basic  framework  for  the  conduct  of  surveys  is  the  register  of  agricultural  holdings, 
drawn  up  from  the  1991 agricultural  and  livestock  census  1991, containing  some  860 000 
holdings active in agriculture, stockrearing or both and exceeding a given area threshold  or 
a number of head of stock. 

The  design  and  management  principles  of  the  register  are  based  on  the  procedure 
developed  by  Eurostat  over the past  few  years to  standardise  the definitions,  contents  and 
management  methodologies  of registers and thus improve the comparability  and quality  of 
the data. 

The main principles on which the register is based are: 

.  •  precise and individualised recognition of farm holdings; 

•  geographical  referencing  of holdings  (address  of the  holding  if  it  is  a  legal  person  or 

permanent  address of the owner if he or she is a natural person); 

•  information  on the presence and size of certain holding characteristics; 
•  capacity  for  individually  recording  and  classifying  farm  holdings  on  the  basis  of 

characteristics. 

When  selecting  the  variables  for  the  register  we  took  into  account  the  need,  in  annual 
surveys  inter  alia,  for  predetermined  variables  for  stratifying  holdings  for  sampling 
purposes and the need to update the list of holdings to be included  in the future  agricultural 
census. 

The  register  is  updated  with  the  help  of  a mechanism  for  updating  these  variables,  using 
data from  internal and external sources. 

The  most  important  internal  source  is  the  results  of  annual  sample  surveys  of  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  holdings  in  the  register,  investigating  certain  changes  affecting  the 
holdings  (births,  deaths,  changes  in  size  class)  and  the  specific  characteristics  of  each 
survey. 

External  sources  include  administrative, sources  such  as  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  the 
Ministry of the Economy etc. 

Updating  from  administrative  sources  presented  problems.  The  connection  between  the 
registers  was  unsatisfactory  because  there  was  no  «key»  enabling  holdings  to  be  linked 
one-to-one. 

ESYE, which  aims to keep  a qualitative  register  guaranteeing  the  quality  of the  statistical 
information  produced,  conducted  a  special  census  in  1996  to  update  all  the  relevant 
variables  for  the whole  of the register  and to  collect  «key»  information  (identity  card  and 
tax registration numbers) to provide the necessary link with administrative  data. 

2. 

SPECIAL  SUR VEY FOR  UPDA TING THE REGISTER 

The  special  survey  to  update  the  register  was  a  census  conducted  in  all  municipalities  in 
Greece  from  August  to  October  1996,  based  on  the  register  of  farm  holdings  drawn  up 
from  the  1991 census of agriculture and stockrearing.  The data were collected by means of 
interviews  with  farm  managers  at their permanent  residences.  To  locate  new holdings  we 
used the  administrative  registers  and archives  of agricultural  directorates  and  cooperatives 
and various other organisations.  This was made possible by the new Law No 2392/96  «on 
access  to  administrative  sources  and  registers  by  the  Secretariat  General  of  the  Greek 
National  Statistical  Institute  (ESYE), on the  statistical  secrecy  committee  and  on rules  for 
the conduct of censuses and statistical work, etc. ». 

Great care was taken in* conducting the survey, the aim being to guarantee the quality of the 
data  collected  and  achieve  the  desired  result,  i.e.  an up-to  date register  and  a  quantitative 
framework  for designing surveys. 

The action and measures taken to this end were as follows: 

-  a pilot  survey  in  1995, the  results  of  which  were  used  to  optimise  the  targeting  of  the 

1996 survey  (micro-census); 

-  questionnaire design ; 

-  special  information  meetings  were  organised  in  the  central  and  local  offices  at  which 
oral  and  written  instructions  were  given  on  how  to  complete  and  process  the 
questionnaires; 

-  a  central  working  party  was  set  up  at  ESYE  and  local  working  parties  were  set  up  in 

municipalities with over  1  000 habitants and a large number of farm holdings; 

-  a  major  promotion  campaign  for  the  survey,  using  posters,  information  brochures  and 

daily national television and radio broadcasts, ran throughout the survey period; 

-  special  programmes  were  designed  for  the  processing  and  quality  control  of  the  data 

collected by survey at local and national level; 

- 

the  survey  was  conducted  and  processed  in  accordance  with  the  decentralised 
agricultural  survey  system. The data from  the register of each prefecture  were  subjected 
to  quality  control  at  national  level  once  the  survey  was  complete.  Lastly,  the  register 
was updated on the basis of these data. 

ANNEX  2 

TIMETABLE  REMINDER 

The  plan  was  initially  to  have  been  completed  in  five  years  (1986-1990),  with  geographical 
dissemination  starting in Thrace-Macedonia in  1986 and finishing  on the Island of Crete in  1990. 
Following two extensions granted to Greece by Council Decisions 90/386/EEC and 92/582/EEC, 
however,  the  deadline  for  completing  the  plan  was  put  back  to  1996.  The  new  timetable  is  as 
follows: 

1986 
1987 
1988 

first  year 
second year 
third year 

1989 

fourth  year 

1990 

fifth  year 

1991 

sixth year 

1992 
1993 

seventh year 
eighth year 

1994 

ninth year 

1995 
1996 

tenth year 
eleventh year 

Macedonia; 
Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus; 
Macedonia,  Thrace,  Thessaly,  Epirus,  Central  Greece  and 
Ionian Islands; 
Macedonia,  Thrace,  Thessaly,  Epirus,  Central  Greece, 
Ionian Islands and Péloponnèse; 
Macedonia,  Thrace,  Thessaly,  Epirus,  Central  Greece, 
Ionian Islands, Péloponnèse and Crete; 
Macedonia,  Thrace,  Thessaly,  Epirus,  Central  Greece, 
Ionian  Islands,  Péloponnèse,  Crete,  Aegean  Islands  (North 
and South); 
First trial of the new system throughout  Greece; 
Creation  of  a  sampling  frame  based  on  the  1991  general 
agricultural census; 
Extension  of  remote  sensing  to  the  whole  of  mainland 
Greece and the Island of Crete; 
Synergies  set up between the  central  and  regional  technical 
and administrative  infrastructures  installed  by the  Statistical 
Office  and  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  respectively  to 
manage  the  programme  of  surveys  conducted  by  the 
Statistical  Office; 
New system established throughout  Greece; 
Monitoring  and  critical  analysis  of  the  results  achieved 
during the first year of proper application. 

In November  1997 the Commission will submit to the Council a report on the implementation  of 
the programme, including the results achieved. 

<f 

ANNEX  3 

1996  EXPENDITURE 

Ministry of the National  Economy 
ESYE Secretariat  General 

Ministry of Agriculture 

Expenditure  category 

I. INFRASTRUCTURE  COSTS 
1. Development of computer  system 
i) ESYE Secretariat  General 
ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
2. Technical and scientific  support 
i) ESYE Secretariat  General 
ii) Ministry of  Agriculture 
3. Miscellaneous  expenditure 

i) ESYE Secretariat  General 
ii) Ministry of Agriculture 

ECU 

598 918 

Amount paid 
GRD 

ECU 

1996 
commitments 
to be paid in 
1997 
GRD 

2 078 983 

181 465 160 
181 465 160 
181465 160 

629 906 908 
430 448 413 
329 719 674 
100 728 739 
25 000 000 

25 000 000 
174 458 495 
91 740 400 
82 178 095 

II. EXPENDITURE  ON  STATISTICAL 

894 971 235  2 953 817 

73 707 020 

243 267 

APPLICATIONS 
i) ESYE Secretariat  General 

1. Animal  surveys 
2.  Wine-growing 
3. Fruit trees 
4. Cereals 
5. Special  register-updating survey 
6. Restiucturing  of agricultural  statistics 
7. Annual survey  of agriculture 

ii) Ministry of Agriculture 
1. Statistical  applications 
2. Remote sensing 

757 396 624 
42 100 000 
13 000 000 
27 466 419 
16 000 000 
541 054 502 
8 259 747 
109 524 956 

137 574 611 
72 094 331 
65 480 280 

51 574 391 

51 574 391 

22 132 629 

22 132 629 

T O T AL 

GRAND  TOTAL 

1524 878 143  5 032 800 

255 172 180 

842 185 

1 780 050 323 

5 874 986 

1 ECU = 302,988 GRD 

9 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(97) 665 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

03  01  13 

Catalogue  number  :  CB-CO-97-683-EN-C 

ISBN  92-78-28676-1 

Office  for  Official  Publications  of the European  Communities 

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