Inadequate measurement of the agricultural sector has led to a lack of reliable data for many years.
Yet commercial agriculture is a primary industry. Its output is used in the compilation of the national accounts, including gross domestic product (GDP) and gross fixed-capital formation.
Agricultural statistics are used to analyse and compare the sector's performance against other sectors. And salaries and wages paid on farms, employment trends, farming debt and productivity are often subjects of controversy and political debate.
Yet the last full census of the sector was held in 1993, and excluded the so-called homelands.
This was the context in which the department of agriculture commissioned Statistics SA to undertake a census of commercial agriculture as the first step in moving towards a comprehensive knowledge base of what takes place in the agricultural sector.
This census covered commercial farmers whose farms were registered for VAT, regardless of turnover.
The census took place in 2002. Details relating to the area and value of the farming unit, the number of people involved in farming activities and farming debt were collected as at February 28 2002.
Data on land utilisation, income and expenditure refer to any financial year ending between March 1 2001 and February 28 2002.
The production of milk, wool, pelts, fur, eggs and honey for commercial purposes.
Forestry, ocean fishing and agricultural services were not included in the census. Data on agricultural smallholdings such as nurseries, vegetable gardens, flower farms and dairy farms were included only where the products were intended for sale.
The data was collected on the basis of farming units operated as a single unit and situated within the same province.
Yesterday Stats SA released some of the findings of the census, where possible presenting a comparison with the findings of the 1993 census at both national and provincial level.
According to the results of the census, there were 45 818 active commercial farming units in South Africa in 2002. This is a decrease of 12 162 farming units since the 1993 census.
The contribution of commercial agriculture to GDP dropped from 4.2 percent to 3.4 percent between 1993 and 2002, a fall of 19 percent. The number of paid employees decreased by 13.9 percent to 940 815, but the salary and wages bill increased by 7.5 percent to R6.2 billion.
Although there were fewer farming units in 2002, the gross farming income generated rose to R53 billion from R39 billion at constant 2002 prices. Over R21 billion was generated from farming in animals and animal products.
Farming debt amounted to R31 billion in 2002, compared with R32 billion in 1993. Western Cape was responsible for 23.7 percent of the farming debt, followed by Free State (16.9 percent) and Northern Cape (11.2 percent), while Gauteng had the lowest proportion of debt (3.4 percent).
With the release of information from the 2002 census of agriculture, a long drought in reliable statistics on commercial agriculture has finally broken.
n Pali Lehohla is South Africa's statistician-general and head of Statistics SA. For more information on Stats SA and its statistical outputs, visit www.statssa.gov.za, or contact user services on (012) 310 8600.