Representatives from relevant government departments, international organisations and development partners gathered for a meeting in Vientiane yesterday to learn about the requirements, work plan and contributions for conducting LCA III and EC III across the country.\u00a0The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister\u00a0and Minister of Finance, Mr\u00a0Somdy Duangdy, and attended bytheMinisterofAgriculture\u00a0and Forestry, Dr Lien Thikeo.<\/p>\n
Field activities of LCA III\u00a0will start at the beginning of 2020, and census results will be collated by the end of next year, Deputy Head of the Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) and also Head of the Agriculture\u00a0Census Office, Ms Phetsamone\u00a0Sone, said at the meeting.\u00a0\u201cAccording to the census work plan, we are now preparing for the sample survey, especially data entry, cleaning and editing,\u201d she said.\u00a0For the sample survey,\u00a0a three-week training programme will be conducted\u00a0in February-March next year,\u00a0and the survey activities will be carried out in March-April.\u00a0Officials are also considering\u00a0the use of satellite image captures, Ms Phetsamone said.\u00a0Analysis and data dissemination, especially data processing, analysis and dissemination of preliminary results, will be done in June- July, while data processing, analysis and distribution of\u00a0the final results will be done\u00a0between June and December.<\/p>\n
The government has currently approved some funding to conduct the census, but the project requires more contributions in terms of\u00a0finance, technical matters and\u00a0equipment from international organisations and development partners.\u00a0The survey\u2019s findings would be used as an essential reference by policymakers in evaluating the success of the\u00a0next five-year national socio-economic development plan, Mr Somdy said.\u00a0The census will collect information from all production units, private households and collective households in almost 10,000 villages across Laos.<\/p>\n
The government views agriculture as an essential pillar of the economy. Although the sector\u2019s contribution to the economy is shrinking, it employs a majority of the Lao population.\u00a0The upgrade of agricultural production and the modernisation of this sector will result in raising millions of Lao people above the poverty line.\u00a0\u201cThe government sees this census as a major responsibility and an important task, and has approved Higher funding when compared to the previous census,\u201d Mr Somdy said.\u00a0The Lao Census of Agriculture is conducted\u00a0every 10 years, and the first\u00a0one was carried out in 1988\/99 and second in 2010\/11.\u00a0The Lao Economic Census is also conducted every 10\u00a0years, with the first in 2006 covering 137,357 economic\u00a0units and the second in 2013\u00a0including 134,577 economic\u00a0units. The latest census is expected to cover 103,820 economic units with more than 10 workers, and a sampling selection will be carried out for those with less than 10 workers.<\/p>\n