Introduction of the history and significance of the Republic of Korea’s Census of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries(CAFF).
Historical outline
In the Republic of Korea, related government ministries conducted the Census of Agriculture (1960), the Census of Fisheries (1970), and the Census of Forestry (1998).
The Census of Agriculture and the Census of Fisheries were transferred to Statistics Korea in 2000 to conduct the Census of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Census of Forestry was transferred in 2005.
The three censuses were combined into the Census of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2010, which has been conducted with a five-year cycle ever since.
Importance of the Census of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Global statistical census
Census results are provided to the WCA supervised by the UN FAO.
The UN FAO has prepared global strategies to improve statistics for farming villages and agriculture and announced the WCA Guidelines. The WCA is conducted once in every 5-10 years in about 120 nations around the world.
The WCA of the FAO embraces forestry and fishery industries.
Universality and completeness as a basic national census
This Census produces statistics on all farming, forestry and fishery households in the nation for administrative units of Eup, Myeon and Dong, and provides such statistics to international organizations like the FAO.
Regional census (administrative Ri) identifies traffic, cultural, and environmental infrastructure in farming, forestry and fishery villages to establish regional development plans.
Inclusion of economic statistics and social statistics
The proportion of ‘agriculture, forestry and fishery industries’ in the GDP only amounts to about 2.0%, but this Census represents economic statistics measuring important changes in the agriculture, forestry and fishery industries regarding domestic and international trade.
The proportion of farming, forestry and fishery households in the total households stands at 5.9%. This Census represents social statistics measuring changes like extinction and downsizing caused by aging of traditional members of farming, forestry and fishery villages.