About census

2023 Census of Agriculture shall be prepared, organized and conducted by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, according to the Law on 2023 Census of Agriculture (Official gazette RS, no. 76/21) and within the project EU IPA 2018 / Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance 2018.

The enumeration of agricultural holdings will be carried out in the period from 1 June to 15 December 2023.

Following the implementation of the Census of Agriculture 2012 and Farm Structure Survey 2018, the realization of 2023 Census of Agriculture will ensure continuity in compiling structural data from the domain of agriculture. The collected data are expected to reflect the status in agriculture and as summarized they will be used for statistical analyses that will enable respective decision taking required to support agricultural production and development.

The observation units in the 2023 Census of Agriculture are agricultural holdings in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, regardless their status (family holdings, holdings of legal entities and unincorporated enterprises).

For 2023 Census of Agriculture we anticipate the engagement and participation of about 3 000 enumerators, 300 municipal and 16 regional coordinators. The public announcement for the selection of enumerators will be released on 15 August.   

Before the Census start, a five-day training will be organized for all participants implementing the Census, by levels, in order to ensure a single procedure when interpreting and applying the methodology, pursuant to the SORS Plan and Programme.   

The main features of agricultural holdings: holding’s identification data, total area of agricultural holding and agricultural land categories of use, data on labour force and data on number of livestock are collected by the complete coverage of observation units. The data on organic farming and applied measures of agricultural/rural development will be taken over from the administrative source – the records of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. The data on other features (irrigation of land under crops, types of keeping animals, soil management practices, use of fertilizers, agricultural buildings, machinery and equipment) will be sample collected.

The applied instruments, coverage, features and standardization of concepts and definitions are all in compliance with the World Programme of 2020 Agricultural Censuses (FAO, UN) and Regulation [EC] No 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on integrated farm statistics and Eurostat methodology. The definitions and explanations are given in the Methodological guidelines.

The data will be collected by the method of interview in filed, from 1 October to 15 December 2023, according to the Address book of agricultural holdings. The enumerators will enter the data directly in the Questionnaire in laptop (method CAPI). The holdings of enterprises, farm cooperatives and other forms of organization with the status of legal entity will be enumerated individually, by entering the data in the web Questionnaire (method CAWI) that will be available from 1 June 2023.   

The Census results will be published in accordance with the deadlines envisaged by the Law, namely: preliminary results until 31 January 2024, and the final results – in succession until 31 December 2025. The Census results will be released on the site of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, exclusively in the form of aggregate data, to the level of settlement (by holding location) for the main features, i.e. to the respective level depending upon the extent of precision ensured by the sample size for other features. 

The participation in the Census is compulsory, and in all implementation stages special care shall be dedicated to the protection of data. All direct participants implementing the Census are obligated to act in accordance with law and to keep the compiled data as trade secret. Pursuant to the Law on 2023 Census of Agriculture, any refusal to respond or providing incorrect data, and any misuse of official statistical data entails misdemeanour liability.