Brief Introduction
I. Main Content and
Statistical Coverage
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 are provided by the Department of Rural Socio-economic
Surveys, NBS using data from the Comprehensive Statistical Reporting on
Farming, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery, the Comprehensive
Statistical Reporting on Agricultural Output and Prices, 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 production 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, cotton 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 programme, a complete survey
is conducted every year to collect information on basic condition of social and
economic activities for all towns, a similar survey is
conducted every 3 years at township and village levels, while sample surveys
are 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 are
collected and compiled by the Department of Rural Socio-economic Surveys, 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.
(5) 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.