Agriculture

agriculture statistics

Working for the society

Traditionally drawing part of the economic profile of a country, agricultural statistics are increasingly widening their scope as they can provide relevant information to tackle modern environmental challenges like: biodiversity, food security, natural resource management, climate change, etc.

Accordingly, agriculture statistics are no longer confined to the description of the production but they carry useful information on the sustainably of social needs. As such, agricultural data can be seen as part of a broader context including the social, environmental and economic needs of the population. National governments need accurate, reliable and comprehensive agricultural statistics to take evidence-based decision and develop integrated policy in response to modern economic, social and environmental challenges.

Within an integrated perspective, Sogeti provides consulting services on Agriculture Statistics, with special reference to the EU context. Besides having its in-house team of experts, Sogeti is part of an international network of recognised scientists and experts actively engaged in Agriculture Statistics.

Our expertise

In the recent past, Sogeti cooperated with the European Commission providing Eurostat and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) with consulting services on Agriculture Statistics. Within this framework, different were the subjects of research (agricultural census, crop production, etc.) and the activities carried out, they included:

  • Research and analysis;
  • Data collection, management and validation;
  • Data analysis and quality control;
  • Computation of indicators;
  • Content production (text, graphs, tables, etc.);
  • Data dissemination.

Our achievements

On behalf of the Statistical Office of the European Union, Sogeti recently drafted twenty-nine digital publications on the results of the Agricultural Census 2010. Publically available on the agriculture wiki section of Eurostat database, these publications provide detailed country profiles on the status of the Farm Structure as it was recorded across Europe by the last exhaustive Farm Structure Survey (FSS). Also, they include a regional analysis at NUTS 2 level, a comparison with the results of the Agricultural Census 2000 and ad hoc tables and graphs. Within the framework of the same project, Sogeti in-house team of experts drafted seven additional publications (Statistics in Focus – SiF) with in-depth analysis on topics like: Aquaculture, Economic Accounts for Agriculture, Irrigation, Dairy Production and Agricultural Income, etc.

For the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Sogeti carried out the collection, harmonisation and analysis of statistical data on crop production of the host plants of some harmful organisms. Implemented in the recent past, this project included the creation of a database with harmonised coding and information as well as the collection and harmonisation of the metadata description of the surveys performed by the Statistical Offices of the EU Member States on the horticulture production of food and non-food crops. Also, an in-depth analysis covering information from 10 selected National Statistical Institutes and their regional equivalents was conducted and comparison tables with harmonised data on horticulture and crops coming from surveys and reports were compiled.

Overall, the study conducted included several types of crops – from non food crops like flowers and ornamentals plants to food horticulture like vegetables of the Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae families. It resulted in an inventory of the horticulture statistical data sources existing in the EU Member States and in a database with harmonised data.