KosovoAgency of Statistics (KAS) released  today the preliminary data of AgricultureCensus in Kosovo, which was conducted from 1 to 20 November 2014.

AgricultureCensus was conducted in 34 municipalities of Kosovo. While, in four northenmunicipalities of Kosovo (Leposavic, Zveçan, Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica)the Census was not conducted, because these municipalities refused to participate.KAS had made preparations to carry out the Census  throughout the territory of the Republic.

ChiefExecutive Officer of KAS, Mr. Isa Krasniqi stressed that the purpose of thiscensus was to collect detailed statistics on the structure of agriculturalholdings in Kosovo. According to him, such information is crucial fordevelopment of agricultural policies in Kosovo.

TheCEO, Krasniqi said that the full confidentiality of individual data of  agricultural holdings was and is respectedcompletely  in accordance with theprovisions of the Law on Official Statistics of the Republic of Kosovo, no. 04/ L-036 and the provisions of the Law on Personal Data Protection, no. 03 /L-172.

“Prevention of unauthorized access to the database center for  individual and grup data, where the entirecontingent of census data is kept was also guaranteed. The data collected forgroups or individuals are anonymous to the third party and as such can bepublished only with special authorization on using them for purposes that areconsistent with the census statistical purposes, "said Mr. Krasniqi.

ChiefExecutive Officer, Krasniqi explained that the Census was organized andconducted by the Kosovo Agency of Statistic, in cooperation with the Ministryof Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD) and Municipal CensusCommissions (MCCs).

DeputyPrime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Kujtim Shala said that after morethan 50 years the Republic of Kosovo is realizing the Agriculture Census andthis project is a great achievement for Kosovo.

“This project provides data that Kosovo lackedfor a long time and it will make possible for Kosovo to prepare developmentprojects according to European standards, where will be identified the needs for future development investments,"stressed Mr. Shala, who promised the support of Kosovo institutions for capital projects that will be realized  in the future by KAS.

Deputy Head ofCooperation in the EU Office, LiborChlad said that EU Office hasprovided  continous support inimplementation of the projects and drafting and amending  of statistical laws.

"Municipalitiesin northern Kosovo did not participate in the Census and the European Unionwill work closely with them,so  thiscensus can be carried out across the territory of Kosovo," stressed Mr.Chlad  asserting that he expects thefinal results to be successful.

The  representative of UNOPS, Mr. FredericFrippiat stressed that  AgricultureCensus is a big exercise anywhere in the world, and it was also a big and heavywork  carried out in Kosovo, sincethere  were thousands of  field and support staff engaged.

“Asthe manager as Agriculture Census Project Trust Fund, UNOPS was committed to successful conduction  of this project," said Mr. Frippiat whothanked  the donors for making possibleconduction of  this project.

TheMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Memli Krasniqi said that theMinistry of Agriculture is the main beneficiary of  Agriculture Census results and today’sday  marks an important phase  in the field of agriculture.

“Resultsreleased today, although they are partial, represent a extremely professionaljob carried out  by KAS. What  makes us to feel good, is that fact that  we have a process that was done according tointernational parameters, which has a high reliability and enables us tohave  very accurate results,and it willhelp us to have a very high efficiency in agricultural development program,"said Minister Krasniqi.

TheManager of Agriculture Census Project, Mr. Bajrush Qevani stressed that duringAgriculture Census, in rural areas enumerators went door to door and visited all households, while in urban areasenumerators visited only agricultural unit listed  according to the list based on 2011 PopulationCensus.

“Preliminarydata of Agriculture Census are introduced at Kosovo and regional level, while more detailed data at municipallevel will be introduced in the final results in September 2015," stressedMr. Qevani.

Disclosingpreliminary data emerged from Agriculture Census, Mr. Qevani stressed that initial results show thatthere were 129,220 agricultural holdings, which had agricultural activity in2013-2014.

"Totalarea of land used for agricultural production in 2014 was 257,639 hectares. OnNovember 1^st, 2014 were in total 253 234 heads of cattle, the region with the largest number of cattlewas Pristina with around  50,759 heads.Total number of sheep in Kosovo was 169,927, the region with the largest numberof sheep was Prizren with  44,505 heads.The total number of goats in Kosovo was 29,085, the regions with the greatestnumber of sheep were: Prizren with 7223 and Pristina with 7077 heads. The totalnumber of poultry in Kosovo was 2695344, the region with the largest number ofpoultry was Pristina with around 593,315," stressed Mr. Qevani.

AgricultureCensus project was funded by the Government of Kosovo and various donors, suchas the European Union Office in Kosovo, Development Union – the Embassy ofSweden - SIDA, the Government of the United Kingdom - DFID, the SwissCooperation Office in Kosovo, the Government of Denmark and the Embassy of theGrand Duke of Luxembourg. This fund is called the Trust Fund and it is managedby the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The total projectcost was around  4.7 millions. 2.2millions  have remained from  Population Census project, while the rest around 2.5 millions have been provided bythe Government and the donors. This cost covers the time periode  2012-2015.