Crop production
NOTES ON METHODOLOGY
SOURCES AND METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
The data are the results of the following statistical surveys in the field of crop production statistics:
- Annual survey on crop and animal production (PO-71 form)
- Survey on Yields of Citrus Fruits and Olives (PO-34 form)
and administrative data sources (the Ministry of Agriculture, the Farm Register of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development etc.).
The methodology is fully harmonised with the Eurostat recommendations (Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC) No 543/2009 of 18 June 2009 concerning crop statistics and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) 837/90 and (EEC) No 959/93).
The following statistical data on crop production are included: areas of utilised agricultural land by categories, harvested areas, yields per hectare and the total production of cereals, oilseeds, root and tuber crops, vegetables, fruit, olives and grapes.
The statistics of agriculture (crop production) records data on business entities (legal entities and parts thereof as well as tradesmen) and on private family farms separately. The data on legal entities and parts thereof as well as the data on tradesmen are collected through regular annual reports. Data on private family farms have been collected since 2005 using the interview method applied to a selected stratified sample. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics has thus abandoned the long-lasting method of collecting data using the estimation method, performed by agricultural estimators on the basis of cadastre data.
The sample for private family farms was selected from the Statistical Register of Agricultural Holdings.
The criterion for the sample selection was based on seven sizes: the total used agricultural land area, the size of arable land, the size of garden area, the size of meadow area, the size of pasture area, the size of orchard area and the size of vineyard area. All obtained data were expanded and compared to data from previous years, the data from the 2003 Agricultural Census and available administrative sources (the Register of Agricultural Holdings of the Ministry of Agriculture and others). If necessary, corrections have been made on the basis of all available data. Due to abandoning the long-standing method of compiling data through estimates by agricultural estimators on the basis of cadastral data, discrepancies in data on land areas of some crops, vineyards and orchards occurred, which are mostly visible in the reduction of land areas, which could have been caused by the tardiness of the cadastre.
A revision of the crop production data series for the period from 2000 to 2004 was conducted due to the above- mentioned reasons. The main purpose of this revision was the methodological harmonisation of data and data estimation methods for the mentioned period.
DATA REVISION METHODS
The data on area for the period from 2000 to 2004 were revised according to the Agricultural Census 2003 data. The year 2003 was selected as the most suitable one for the recalculation of data on areas due to the fact that both the Agricultural Census data and estimates of statistical experts are available for this year. The data for the period from 2000 to 2004 were recalculated by multiplying the 2003 data by indices of annual changes derived from expert estimates. New data on the average yield per hectare were obtained on the basis of the triennial average yield obtained from the sample survey (2005 ‒ 2007) multiplied by indices of annual changes in the average yield calculated from expert estimates. New data on the production were obtained by multiplying the revised data on area by the revised data on yield per hectare for that year.
COVERAGE
Crop production statistics cover all agricultural holdings, that is, both private family farms and business entities and parts thereof.
Data on crop production for business entities were collected on reports that are sent by post to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Legal entities and parts thereof classified in section A (Agriculture, forestry and fishing) are covered, as well as other legal entities and parts thereof that are engaged in agricultural production, but classified elsewhere. Since 2005, tradesmen engaged in crop production have been covered as well. The coverage is selective and includes legal entities employing 10 or more persons that are classified in section A (Agriculture, forestry and fishing), as well as other legal entities and parts thereof that are engaged in agricultural production, but classified elsewhere.
Up to 2005, data on private family farms were collected by the estimation method. Since 2005, the survey on crop production has been conducted.
DEFINITIONS
Private family farm is a production and economic unit engaged in agricultural production. It operates as a trade company, craft or co-operative if registered for running an agricultural activity or as a family farm.
Utilised agricultural area is the total surface land used for crop production in a particular year. It covers arable land and gardens, kitchen gardens, orchards, olive groves, meadows and pastures, nurseries, vineyards, land under basket willow (osier) and other land under permanent crops (Christmas trees).
Arable land and gardens refer to the land that is regularly farmed and cultivated and is under crop rotation.
The following plants are grown on arable land and gardens: cereals, pulses for dry grain, root and tuber crops, industrial crops, fodder crops, vegetables, flowers and horticultural plants, seed crops and seedlings and fallow land.
Kitchen gardens are areas scheduled for growing of crops (mostly vegetables) intended for consumption by persons living in a household, which are mainly not intended for sale. Only occasional surplus of products grown on these areas is sold outside the household.
Data on triticale have been collected since 2006. Until 2006, data on triticale were included in other cereals.
Standard moisture contents for the figures of the most important cereals are: wheat 13%, barley 13%, oats 13%, rye 13 % and maize (dry) 14%.
Root and tuber crops include potatoes (early, late and seed potatoes), sugar beet (excluding seed) and fodder root crops (fodder beet, fodder pumpkins, fodder turnip and other fodder root crops).
Other root crops include fodder kale, fodder kohlrabi and sweet potato for fodder.
Other dried pulses include beans, lupins, lentils and chickpeas intended for the production of dry grain.
Industrial crops include oil crops (soya-bean, sunflowers, hemp for oil, pumpkins for oil), tobacco and other industrial plants (spices, aromatic and medicinal herbs and other industrial plants, that is, rapeseed for production of biodiesel, chicory and hop, etc.).
Other oilseeds include pumpkin for oil, hemp for oil, poppy for oil, flaxseed for oil and mustard.
Other annual green fodder includes annual grasses (annual ryegrass, tall catgrass), rauola, facelia, Sudanese grass, fodder sorghum and cereals harvested green.
Other legumes harvested green include clover-grass mixtures, fodder peas, legumes, lupins, a mixture of legumes and cereals, etc.
Temporary grasses and grazings include perennial grass-clover mixtures and perennial grasses and grass mixtures.
Subsequent crops are crops sown after the main crop in the same year. Subsequent crops include stubble crops that are sown after the harvest and mostly ripen in autumn.
Vegetables include land intended for growing of crops mostly intended for sale in fresh consumption and for industrial processing. They include cauliflower and broccoli, cabbage, other brassicas (Savoy cabbage, brussels sprouts and kohlrabi), lettuce (all species), leek, other leafy or stalked vegetables (Swiss chard, spinach, celery, chicory, asparagus and etc.), tomatoes, cucumbers and gherkins, melons, watermelons, red peppers (capsicum), vegetables cultivated for fruit (eggplant, courgette, pumpkin, sweet maize etc.), strawberries, onions and garlic, carrots, beetroots, other root vegetables (horse radish, garden radish, common parsnips, Swedish turnip, sweet potatoes for human consumption etc.), green beans, green peas and other vegetables (sweet corn, etc.)
As for vegetables, it must be pointed out that, until 2007, white cabbage and kale as well as melons and watermelons were observed jointly.
Until 2015, only white cabbage was included in cabbage, and since 2015, all types of cabbage have been included.
The production of cabbage includes the main production and post-production, while yield per hectare (t/ha) includes only the main area and production.
Intensive orchards are cultivated within a specific distance between trees in which mechanised cultivation can be performed. As a rule, they are larger plantations of fruit trees (of 10 or more ares) or berries (excluding strawberries) intended for fruit growing for sale.
Extensive (traditional) orchards are country semi-intensive or extensive plantations of fruit trees of predominantly old sorts intended mostly for own consumption. Included are trees in (mixed) orchards as well as trees in yards, on boundary lines, by roads, etc.
Berries include raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, chokeberries, elderberries, wild roses, currants, gooseberries, cranberries etc.
Harvested areas are those on which crops have been harvested and yield picked.
The total production is the so-called stored production obtained after the harvest by deduction of all the losses before the harvest and during the transport and combine harvesting etc. Since the moisture of cereals may vary due to the weather conditions, the actual yield is presented as an averagely moist yield, that is, grains with 13% of moisture, and for the grain corn with 14% of moisture.
Production of wine and olive oil includes the industrial production and the production at private family farms.
Abbreviations
Eurostat Statistical Office of the European Communities
ha hectare
hl hectolitre
t tonne
000 thousand
Symbols
- no occurrence
N unreliable estimation
z data are not published for confidentiality reasons