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Fifth farm census starts today

LAHORE: The fifth decennial agriculture census will be carried out across the country from January 17.

The Agriculture Census Organisation (ACO) has earlier conducted four census during the years-1960, 1972, 1980 and 1990.

The exercise coincides with the census programme of the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations being held to gauge the world food and fibre production and needs.

"Data regarding crops, land utilisation, irrigation, fertiliser and pesticides offtake and livestock will be collected during this six month long exercise," Chief Agriculture Census Commissioner, Akbar Ali Momin told APP.

During the first phase i.e. from January 17 to mid-March, he said, the census would be carried out in the Punjab excluding Murree, Kotli Satian and Kahuta, entire Sindh, temperate parts of NWFP and Balochistan.

Momin said that the census in the cold areas of the Punjab, NWFP, Balochistan, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir would be held from mid-April to mid-June.

He said data would be collected on the subjects like operational land holding, land utilisation, irrigation, orchards, pest control, major and minor crops, use of fertilisers, use of insecticides, use of agriculture, livestock population, investment for agriculture and level of education among the tillers. APP