Agriculture
I. Main Content
The data in this chapter show the basic conditions of
agricultural production and rural economy, including mainly rural employed labour force, cultivated land, quantity of agricultural
machinery, output of farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, output of
major products, facilities of water conservancy and efforts to eliminate
water-logging and combat alkalinity, productive fixed assets owned by the rural
households, basic conditions of the state-owned farms, and basic conditions of
township enterprises.
Statistics on agriculture cover all agricultural production
activities except horse raising for military purpose
and activities undertaken by agriculture research institutions. Included in
agriculture statistics are production activities in crop cultivation, forestry,
animal husbandry and fishery undertaken by rural economic units of various
types and by rural households, production activities of farms specializing in
crop cultivation, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery; production activities
undertaken by government agencies, institutions, schools and military units;
production activities in agriculture undertaken by collective farms run by
townships and villages; and production activities in crop cultivation, forestry,
animal husbandry and fishery undertaken by manufacturing and mining
enterprises.
(1) Agriculture: refers to cultivation of farms crops,
including cereals, beans, tuber crops, cotton, oil-bearing crops, sugar crops,
hemp, tobacco leaves, vegetables, gardening plants, fruits, nuts, crops for
beverages and for perfumes, medicinal herbs and other farm crops.
(2) Forestry: includes the planting of trees (excluding the
operation on tea plantations, mulberry fields and orchards), felling and
transport of timber and bamboo and collection of forest products.
(3) Animal husbandry: includes the raising and grazing of
domestic animals and poultry, and the hunting and raising
of wild animals.
(4) Fishery: includes cultivation and catching of aquatic
animals and seaweed.
The rural social and economic statistics cover social and
economic activities in all townships except that taking place in county towns.
II. Source of Data and Survey Methodology
(1) Data on rural grassroots units, employed labour force and agricultural production (tables 13-1 to
13-8, tables 13-15 to 13-22) are provided by the Rural Socio-economic Survey
Organization, NBS using data from the Comprehensive Statistical Reporting on
Farming, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery, the Comprehensive
Statistical Reporting on Agricultural Output, the Rural Social and
Economic Survey, and the Sample Survey of Farm Crops.
Comprehensive Statistical Reporting on Farming,
Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery is a comprehensive reporting program
reported by provincial statistical bureaus to the National Bureau of
Statistics. Data required in this reporting program are collected by
statistical offices at all levels by means of sample surveys, surveys of key
units or full enumeration depending on the local circumstances, or estimated by
using information from other government agencies at the same level or from the
sample survey of farm crops and rural household survey conducted by NBS. For
instance, some data on condition of agriculture production and on forestry and
fishery are obtained from statistics collected by other government agencies at
the same level.
Sample Survey of Farm Crops is a nation-wide survey
designed by NBS and implemented by sample survey teams throughout China with
unified sample selection and estimation procedure, in order to obtain high
quality data on grain produc-tion
and related statistics. Using data from the agriculture census as sampling
frame, a total of 130,000 sample plots are selected from some 20,000 villages
in the country through a comprehensive multi-stage and multi-phase stratified
systematic sampling programme. Actual crop cutting
and measuring is conducted on these plots to estimate the national production.
The survey is characterized by a multi-purpose probability proportional to size
sample design that keeps sampling error to ±2% with the confidence probability
as 95%. A rotation scheme is used in the sample survey on farm crops with the
cycle of a complete rotation being 5 years. Data on crop production, crop
planting acreage and production of major animal husbandry products are
collected are from the Sample Survey of Farm Crops.
Rural Social and Economic Survey is a special survey
designed by the NBS to understand the basic condition of social and economic
activities at township level, the size and transfer of total rural labour force and investment in fixed assets in rural areas.
Under this survey program, a complete enumeration is conducted every 3 years to
collect information on basic condition of social and economic activities at
township and village levels, while sample survey is used to collect information
on other items with the same sampling units as in the Rural Household Survey.
(2) Data on the fixed assets, cultivated land and sales of
farm products of rural households (tables 13-12 to 13-14, tables 13-25 to
13-26) are collected and compiled by the Rural Socio-economic Survey
Organization, NBS through the Rural Household Survey Programme.
Please refer to Chapter 10 (People’s Livelihood) of the Yearbook for
description of the Rural Household Survey Programme.
(3) Data on the basic conditions of the state-owned farms
come from the statistical reports tabulated by the Bureau of Reclamation,
Ministry of Agriculture. The statistical coverage includes 30 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government;
except
(4) Data on irrigation and reservoirs, the data on the
efforts to eliminate water-logging, prevent floods by water control and combat
alkalinity as well as the data on the facilities of water conservancy and the
area of water-logging eliminated and the improved area of saline-alkaline land
come mainly from statistical reports of the Ministry of Water Conservancy. The
statistical coverage includes provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
directly under the central government. County is the basic statistical unit.
The data are collected from the counties in accordance with the statistical
reporting scheme and tabulated and reported level by level. Data on some special
indicators such as the number of irrigated areas, large reservoirs and the
medium-sized and small reservoirs that cut across counties are collected
directly by the prefectures and reported to the water conservancy departments
of the provinces.
(6)Data on disaster-covered areas and
disaster-affected areas are figures jointly confirmed by NBS in consultation
with Ministry of Civil affairs, Ministry of Water Conservancy and National
Bureau of Meteorology.