Establishment of an Agency for Reporting Agriculture Statistics (EARAS)
The scheme ‘Establishment of an Agency for Reporting Agricultural Statistics’ (EARAS) is a 100% Central Sector Scheme. This scheme is a component of the main scheme Improvement of Agricultural Statistics (I.A.S), which is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation,Government of India.
The Scheme has three components
(i) Timely Reporting Scheme (TRS)
(ii) Establishment of an Agency for Reporting Agricultural Statistics (EARAS)
(iii) Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS)
The objective of EARAS Scheme are given below
- Obtain reliable and timely estimates of area under principal crops in each season
- Generate estimates of area and production of principal crops in each season of an agricultural year.
Through ICS scheme, improvement in crop statistics by conducting spot supervision of
(a) Area enumeration
(b) Area aggregation and
(c) Crop cutting experiments
Department of Economics and Statistics is the nodal agency for collecting Agricultural Statistics in the State. Area enumeration is carried out in selected clusters, which are randomly selected using appropriate sampling techniques. There are 811 Investigator Zones in the State of which one Zone consists of 100 Clusters (Wet and Dry). Number of Wet and Dry clusters are determined as per the corresponding area in the Zone. Basic Tax Register (BTR) is taken as the basic document for cluster formation. The Scheme was introduced in1975-76 Agricultural Year through EARAS for estimating the Land area classified into 13 categories of Land utilization, and conducting crop cutting experiments of various crops in order to estimate production.
Aim & Objective
The objective of the scheme is collection of Agricultural Statistics which provides the estimates of Area under crops, production and yield rate and land utilization pattern of Agricultural Sector . The State and Central Government use this data for planning and development of policy formation.
The period of Survey is one agricultural year from July 1st to June 30th of every year. It is divided into 3 seasons - autumn, winter and summer.
Also by contacting prominent leading cultivators and considering the weather reports etc advance estimates of principal crops are also prepared and furnished the data to the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of India; every season.
Period of survey
The period of survey starts from July-1 to June 30th of every year. This period is divided into three seasons as follows:
- Autumn - July - October
- Winter - November - February
- Summer - March - June
Three visits are conducted in wet land and two visits in dry land
Wet land enumeration
The wet lands be enumerated in three seasons accordingly. Annual crops may be reported in the season in which the harvest is done.
- First Visit - July1st- August 31st
- Second Visit - November1st- November 30
- Third Visit - March 1st- March 31
Dry Land 1st Visit
The duration of the first visit of the dry land is July 1st – December 31st. During the first visit of dry land area of seasonal crops of autumn and winter are enumerated and reported.
Dry land 2nd Visit
The duration is January 1st to June 30th. During these time the annual crops, seasonal crops and perennial are enumerated. Details of irrigation are also collected during this visit.
Forecast report
By oral conservation with 10 major cultivators of each panchayaths about the area of previous year and current year of a particular crop, Condition factor is calculated for preparing forecast report.
Condition factor and rate of yield are reported in the forecast report.
Advance Estimate
Three advance estimates are prepared. Considering the all information collected by local enquiry, the Agricultural Officers, and data collected from major leading Cultivators of each crop.
For preparing the productivity, details from local enquiry, crop weather report and the opinion of major cultivators are considered .
Second and third estimation is prepared by including the variation of the previous estimation and so on.
General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES)
The General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES) under EARAS Scheme, Department is conducting crop cutting experiments of 19 crops for the estimation of production and yield rate of crops. Production and productivity of paddy is estimating in three seasons and others are in annually.
From the Agricultural year 2016-17 onwards this department has been estimating the season wise mean yield of paddy (14 districts) and providing the same to Agriculture Development and Farmers welfare Department.
The monthly, quarterly and seasonal progress report of crop cutting experiments of 19 crops is being forwarded to Government of India.
A report of Agricultural Statistics is published in every year. Block/District wise production and productivity of major 19 crops are included in the report.
This department has been providing the season wise mean yield of 4 crops to Agricultural Insurance Company of India Ltd (Pradhan Manthri Fasal Beema Yojana – PMFBY) in connection with the crop insurance implemented in the State. At present Department is providing the Panchayath wise mean yield of paddy (Alppuzha ,Pathanamthitta,Kottayam Districts only) Banana and Plantain and block wise mean yield of Tapioca to the Agricultural Insurance Company. The mean yield is calculated using the data from the schedules submitted by the District offices. The mean yield of Tapioca and Banana are estimating in Kharif and Rabi I season and Tapioca and plantain are in Rabi II season.
The Scheme for Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS)
The Scheme for ICS, which had a modest beginning in the year 1973-74, reached the optimum coverage in subsequent years. Since then, the scale of sample checks has been more or less stabilized. During 2001-02, the scheme was under implementation in 22 States and UT’s including EARAS States of Kerala, Orissa and West Bengal. In all the states, the checks were carried out by both the agencies except in Delhi where the work was taken up only in the Central Samples. The work of checking up of crop abstract statements suspended in central sample in 1993-94 was revised in 1999-2000, in West Bengal the work is not prescribed under ICS
The Scheme accomplishes its objectives by conducting sample checks on the primary field work through:-
a) Physical verification of the crop enumeration done by the village primary workers in a sample in each season.
b) Checking of the aggregation of crop-wise area of these villages
c) Inspection of crop cutting experiments at harvest stage in a year.
The concurrent inspection of crop cutting experiments at harvest stage consists of examining whether the conduct of the experiments by the state primary workers conforms to the procedures prescribed under the GCES. The inspection covers such aspects as the selection of files and random co-ordinates, making of experimental plots of specified size, harvesting of plants, weighment of the produce etc.
The yield data from the supervised experiments are also made use for obtaining the average yield rates of specified crops and their standard errors. These estimates are forwarded to the Ministry of agriculture. They serve as one of the sources for preparation of advance estimate of crop production.