LAHORE (January 30 2004): The Agriculture Census Organisation (ACO) has launched the fifth agricultural machinery census for collecting data about the number of tubewells, tractors and other agricultural tools used in the agriculture sector of the country.

This exercise was jointly undertaken by the federal government and the provincial governments particularly by their agriculture departments, said Agriculture Census Commissioner Muhammad Younas while addressing a press conference here on Thursday.

Younas said that a comprehensive questionnaire with detailed instructions for field staff had been devised to collect the data on agricultural implements in the country.

He said the department had arranged training programmes for field staff to ensure accuracy of data. A complete document of census would be in hand by June 2005.

Younas said the department had already conducted four agricultural machinery censuses so far. The last census was held in 1994 and the process for fresh census had already been initiated in last quarter of 2003.

He said census would be conducted in 560,00-mouza across the country which included 400,00 settled and 160,00 un-settled mouzas. About 8,380 officials would be involved in the process.

Courtesy Business Recorder