PEKAN: From next year onwards, Malaysia will have a comprehensive agricultural database which covers four sub sectors that will serve as a focal point of reference for the government.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the Agriculture Census 2024, which began on July 7, will be vital in establishing a real-time, comprehensive and reliable database covering four areas namely poultry, aquaculture, agriculture and logging.
"All the findings from the Agriculture Census will be owned by the ministries and government agencies at both Federal and state level.
The new benchmark will provide genuine statistics covering various aspects within the agricultural ecosystem.
"The database will allow the government to make proper planning, allocation of budget, draft policies, introduce suitable programmes and improve the existing ones. Currently, we have the data on the agriculture sector, but it is not well integrated, and sometimes there is a need to make estimations. The last census was done in 2005.
"The database framework developed through the Agriculture Census will make it easier to coordinate and identify sectors that requires additional focus, create opportunities for people to identify prospects within the agriculture sector and create a profiling of those who are genuinely involved in the sector," he told reporters after visiting a cage fish farmer and livestock owner at Kampung Pulau Manis here today.
Citing an example, Mohd Uzir said it has been often claimed that the older generation are the ones who are widely involved in the agriculture sector but it has not been backed by proper evidence.
"We do not have data on whom we describe as the older generation. There have been numerous efforts to get youths involved in agriculture but to date there is no specific data on the numbers actively involved in the sector.
"The Agriculture Census will help the government identify which district has the highest number of youths involved in the agriculture sector and stories of those who make it big in the agriculture sector and successful agriculture entrepreneurs will be made public. The database will be updated regularly.
"During the current census, our enumerators on the ground will visit the households based on the information provided by the government agencies, gather their information and categorise them individually. Some might be only renting out their lands but not involved in the sector while others might be only hired as workers. We will scrutinise the details," he said, adding companies involved in agriculture were also part of the census.
Mohd Uzir said so far 16 per cent of those involved in the agriculture sector have completed the Agriculture Census which will end on Oct 10.
He said the detailed findings from the ongoing census were expected to be available by the first quarter of next year.
He added that the department had identified 83,550 households and 1,996 business entities across Pahang that were involved in agricultural activities, and till July 19 the enumerators had visited 13,609 households.
Also present at the event was Pahang Fisheries Department director, Abdullah Jaafar.