The SOUT Survey: Agricultural Subsector Survey

What is SOUT surveys?

SOUT survey is agricultural subsector survey, which is a part and last-stageof the the 2013 Agricultural Census activities. The survey is aimed to gather information on cost structure of some strategic commodities in agricultural sectors. From the survey BPS will obtain profile and socio-economic conditionof agricultural households and business structure of strategic commodities.

Why does BPS conduct the SOUT survey?

The SOUT survey is to obtain more detailed infomation that can not be covered by the complete enumeration of the ST2013. The questions are more comprehensive than those of the census, such as: How many are seeds used? How much is the cost? How much are the fertilizer? How much is the production cost? and so on.

What methodology is used?

Prior to data collection, census block updating was conducted along with identifying the selected strategic commodities. Then, the next step is to record the sample of the households that cultivated these commodities. There are nine questionnairesin this survey. Each enumeratorare given a maximum of two questionnaires with workload of 3 up to 6 census blocks. The total number of sampled households is1,070 thousand for the census block. There are 107 thousand census blocks and 33 thousand enumerators. Supervision teams are in charge to control the field operation.

How the commodities are selected?

The commodities to be surveyed in each subsector are selected based on economic and production values. Not all provinces have a national strategic commodities, but each provincesurely has a strategic commodity. The commodities are also selected based on the information from each subsector counterparts, for example, the food crops commodities from the Director General of Food Crops (Ministry of Agriculture) and holticulture from the Director General of Horticulture.

What are the challenges in the SUOT survey?

The SUOT survey is quite complicated. In addition to the BPS, the research and development bureau from other ministries also conduct survey on cost structure. The difference in result between them and BPS will challenge its credibility. Other challenge comes from the respondents. The burden on respondents could increase e if they are required for more than one subsector surveys. If there are respondents who refuse to be sampled, the officer must report it in a form of incident or irregularity report.

What is benefit of this survey? Who will use the agricultural subsector data?

The subsector data can be used for Farmer Trade Change survey released monthly and GDP released quarterly by looking at the emerging cost structure in this survey. In addition, this survey can also be useful to draw up a business profile data. For BPS internally, the units such as National Accounts, Statistical Analysis, Distribution Statistics Directorate require data in support for their output. The external parties using these data can be the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries Affairs, Ministry of Forestry, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Tripartite Rubber Council, etc. The result of SUOT survey is scheduled to be released in January 2015.